Effect of carbon content on magnetostructural properties of Mn${}_3$GaC

Abstract

Effect of carbon content on magnetostructural transformation in antiperovskites of the type Mn${}_3$GaC${}_x$ ($x$ = 0.8, 1.0 and 1.05) has been investigated. It is found that, increase in carbon content changes the ground state from ferromagnetic metallic ($x$ = 0.8) to antiferromagnetic semiconducting ($x$ = 1.05) type. This has been attributed to localization of itinerant Mn $3d$ electrons due to increased Mn$3d$ - C$2p$ hybridization. Such a hybridization strengthens Mn-C-Mn antiferromagnetic interactions over Mn-Mn ferromagnetic interactions. Further, magnetic field can be used as a tool to modulate the relative strengths of these ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions thereby affecting the nature and strength of magnetocaloric properties.

Appearing in Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials

Cited by in corpus (3)

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• Mechanism of magnetostructural transformation in multifunctional Mn${}_3$GaC
• Absence of first order magnetic transition, a curious case of Mn3InC