Effects of antiferro-ferromagnetic phase coexistence and spin fluctuations on the magnetic and related properties of NdCuSi

Abstract

Polycrystalline NdCuSi is found to show co-existence of antiferromagnetic (AFM) and ferromagnetic (FM) phases at low temperatures, as revealed by neutron diffraction data. The coexistence is attributed to the competing exchange interactions and crystal field effect. The compound shows a large, low-field magnetoresistance (MR) of ∼ − 32% at 20 kOe below TN (3.1 K), which becomes ∼ − 36% at 50 kOe. The MR value at 50 kOe is found to be the highest among the RTX compounds. Magnetocaloric effect (MCE) is also found to show a large value of ∼11 J/kg K close to TN. Resistivity data show the presence of spin fluctuations, which get suppressed by the applied field. Large MR and MCE in this compound arise due to the coexistence of the two phases. The field dependencies of MR and MCE show quadratic behavior, confirming the presence of spin fluctuations.