Anisotropic magnetism in Nd5Rh4Sn10 single crystal

Abstract

Our recent studies on polycrystalline samples of the R 5 Rh 4 Sn 10 series have shown unusual multiple ordering with a first order magnetic transition in tetragonal Nd 5 Rh 4 Sn 10 at low temperatures. In this study, we report resistivity,susceptibility, and heat capacity (in various fields up to 10 T) in a single crystal of Nd 5 Rh 4 Sn 10 . We observe antiferromagnetic ordering of Nd 3+ spins along the c axis while they order ferromagnetically along the a axis. The first order transition was rapidly suppressed with fields above 4 T along the c axis while it was marginally affected up to 10 T for field along the a axis. We propose a tentative model to explain this feature.