Nonmonotonic temperature dependence of the spontaneous magnetization of the antiferromagnetic crystal LiCoPO4

The temperature dependence of the magnitude of the weak ferromagnetic moment is measured in the many-sublattice antiferromagnetic magnetoelectric crystal LiCoPO4. The dependence is found to be nonmonotonic—as the temperature is decreased below the Neel temperature TN, the ferromagnetic moment initially increases and then decreases markedly. It reaches its highest value, close to 0.12 G, at a temperature of around 10.5 K, which is roughly TN/2. The possible mechanisms for the appearance of weak ferromagnetism in LiCoPO4 and the causes of the nonmonotonic temperature dependence of the spontaneous magnetic moment are discussed. Among the possible mechanisms, there is a preference for one in which the weak ferromagnetism is due to a nonuniform antiferromagnetic structure which is proposed for this crystal.