Open AccessMagnetooptical Study of Spin-Orientation Phase Transition in NdFe3(BO3)4 Single Crystal
Author(s) -
V. A. Bedarev,
M. I. Pashchenko,
D. N. Merenkov,
Л. Н. Безматерных,
V. L. Temerov
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
ukrainian journal of physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.213
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 2071-0194
pISSN - 2071-0186
DOI - 10.15407/ujpe57.6.648
Subject(s) - condensed matter physics , birefringence , antiferromagnetism , phase transition , materials science , crystal (programming language) , uniaxial crystal , phase (matter) , magnetic field , phase diagram , single crystal , field (mathematics) , orientation (vector space) , crystallography , physics , optics , optical axis , chemistry , geometry , mathematics , lens (geology) , quantum mechanics , computer science , pure mathematics , programming language
The magnetic field dependences of birefringence in a NdFe3(BO3)4 single crystal have been measured in the case where the direction of light propagation coincides with the trigonal crystal axis C3 (k ║ C3), and the external magnetic field is oriented along the second-order axis C2 (H ║ C2). In the temperature range, in which an incommensurate phase exists with the formation of a long-period antiferromagnetic helix, the strongly pronounced jumps in the field dependence of birefringence are revealed and identified as a first-order spin-orientation phase transition. The phase transition was accompanied by a hysteresis in the field dependences of birefringence. The H–T phase diagram for a NdFe3(BO3)4 single crystal has been plotted in the case where the magnetic field is oriented along the crystal axis C2 (H ║ C2).