This article is cited in 19 papers

Magnetism

Magnetostructural phase transitions in manganese arsenide single crystals

V. I. Mitsiuk^a, N. Yu. Pankratov^b, G. A. Govor^a, S. A. Nikitin^b, A. I. Smarzhevskaya<sup>b

a</sup> Scientific-Practical Materials Research Centre of NAS of Belarus
^b Lomonosov Moscow State University

Abstract: The effect of an external magnetic field with a strength up to 140 kOe on the phase transitions in manganese arsenide single crystals has been investigated. The existence of unstable magnetic and crystal structures at temperatures above the Curie temperature $T_C$ = 308 K has been established. The displacements of manganese and arsenic atoms during the magnetostructural phase transition and the shift in the temperature of the first-order magnetostructural phase transition in a magnetic field have been determined. It has been shown that the magnetocaloric effect in a magnetic field of 140 kOe near the Curie temperature $T_C$ is equal to $\Delta T\sim$ 13 K. A model of the superparamagnetic state in MnAs above the temperature $T_C$ has been proposed using the data on the magnetic properties and structural transformation in the region of the first-order magnetostructural phase transition. It has been demonstrated that, at temperatures close to $T_C$, apart from the contribution to the change in the entropy from the change in the magnetization there is a significant contribution from the transformation of the crystal lattice due to the magnetostructural phase transition.

Received: 05.03.2012

 English version: Physics of the Solid State, 2012, 54:10, 1988–1995

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