SYNTHESIS, CRYSTAL STRUCTURE AND MAGNETIC BEHAVIOR OF

Polycrystalline samples of nominal CuCo2InTe4 and CuNi2InTe4 were prepared by the melt and anneal method and the products characterized by powder X-ray diffraction and SQUID techniques. It was found that CuCo2InTe4 and CuNi2InTe4 crystallize in the tetragonal space group (No 121), Z = 2, in a stannite-type structure, with the binaries CoTe and NiTe as secondary phases, respectively. The magnetic behavior of CuCo2InTe4 is that of a superparamagnetic state with an irreversibility temperature of ~450K and a maximum coercive field of 35 Oe at 2K; whereas CuNi2InTe4 shows two magnetic components, one diamagnetic an another weak ferromagnetic.