Magnetic properties of DyPdSn

Abstract Magnetic and neutron diffraction measurements were performed in an orthorhombic DyPdSn compound. The magnetic properties are highly anisotropic; the easy axis of magnetization is the b -axis and the hard axis is the a -axis above 30 K whereas it is the c -axis below it. This behavior is well reproduced by the CEF calculation based on a point charge model and a comparison of deduced CEF parameters is made with isostructural equiatomic ternary Dy and Tb compounds. A successive magnetic phase transition has been observed below the Neel temperature T N  = 10.8 K; the four magnetic phases exist respectively in T T 1  = 2.5 K, T 1 T T 2  = 4.7 K, T 2 T T 3  = 6.2 K and T 3 T T N . Multi-step metamagnetic transitions have been observed along the three principal axes. The powder neutron diffraction patterns have indicated that the magnetic structure is described by the propagation vector k  = (0.21, 0, 0.66) at 3.4 K.