Magnetic Phase Transitions in La1-xRxMn2Si2 (R=Gd, Tb, Dy) Compounds
Magnetic properties of the La1xRxMn2Si2 (R is Gd, Tb, Dy; 0 x 1) compounds were investigated using magnetic measurements on quasi-single crystals. The x-T concentration magnetic phase diagrams are constructed. All obtained x-T magnetic phase diagrams are found to be similar. Six magnetic structures are realized in the compounds at different concentrations x. It was shown that all the compounds have strong magnetic anisotropy with the c-axis as the easy direction. For the compounds with x = 0.2, the irreversible magnetization processes are observed which can be attributed to the existence of a compensation point at which the R and Mn magnetic sublattices compensate each other. The nature of various spontaneous and field-induced phase transitions is also discussed.