Magnetostriction of some cubic rare earth-Co2 compounds in high magnetic fields

TLDR: Magnetostriction measurements have been carried out in the cubic Laves phase compounds DyCo2, HoCo2 and ErCo2 from 10K to well above their respective Neel temperatures.

Abstract: Magnetostriction measurements have been carried out in the cubic Laves phase compounds DyCo2, HoCo2 and ErCo2 from 10K to well above their respective Neel temperatures TN. The observed magnetostrictions are very large ( approximately 10-3). The measurements confirm the extremely high anisotropy of these materials. The expected values of the saturation magnetostriction at 0K are similar in sign and magnitude to those found in the corresponding rare earth metals. This fact and the scaling of magnetostriction with rare earth sublattice magnetization indicates that the rare earth ion is the main source of the magnetostriction. The metamagnetic transition above TN has been studied, the relation between critical field and temperature being nonlinear for HoCo2 and ErCo2. The compounds are highly anisotropic above TN and all the features indicate that the field-induced phases are likely to be ferrimagnetic.