Magnetic structure of Ho2CoGa8 determined by X-ray resonant magnetic scattering

Abstract We report the low temperature magnetic structure of the Ho 2 CoGa 8 intermetallic compound studied by X-ray magnetic scattering technique at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory. We found that below T N = 5.1 K , Ho 2 CoGa 8 has a commensurate antiferromagnetic structure with a propagation vector η ⇒ = ( 1 2 , 1 2 , 1 2 ) and preliminary analysis indicated that the Ho magnetic moment points along the c -axis. The magnetic structure of this compound was obtained by measuring the strong dipolar resonant peak at the L 3 edge using polarization analysis. The magnetic structure and properties Ho 2 CoGa 8 are found to be consistent with the general trend already seen for the Nd-, Tb-, and the Ce-based compounds from the R m M n In 3 m + 2 n family (R=rare earth; M=Co, Rh, or Ir; m = 1 , 2 ; n = 0 , 1 ).