A first order phase transition induced by magnetic field and temperature

K. J. Singh; S. Chaudhary; M. K. Chattopadhyay; M. A. Manekar; S. B. Roy; P. Chaddah

paper

A first order phase transition induced by magnetic field and temperature

arXiv:cond-mat/0102199

Abstract

Taking the pseudobinary C15-Laves phase compound Ce(Fe $_{0.96}$ Al $_{0.04}$ ) $_{2}$ as a paradigm for studying a ferromagnetic(FM) to antiferromagnetic(AFM) phase transition, we present interesting thermomagnetic history effects in magnetotransport measurements across this FM-AFM transition. We argue that these distinctive hysteretic features can be used to identify the exact nature -first order or second order - of this kind of transition in magnetic systems where electrical transport is strongly correlated with the underlying magnetic order. A comparison is made with the similar FM-AFM transitions observed in Nd and Pr-based manganese compounds with perovskite-type structure.

10 pages and 2 figures