Thermodynamic and transport anisotropic properties of RVSb3 crystals*

The RVSb3 series (R= La, Nd, Sm, Gd - Dy) offers the possibility of studying the magnetic ordering in materials with a single, crystallographically unique, rare-earth site. The anisotropic magnetization M(H, T), resistivity, and heat capacity C(T) results, on flux-grown crystals, will be presented. All of the compounds are metallic, and all, with the exceptions of non-magnetic LaVSb3 and ferromagnetic CeVSb3, show features typical of antiferromagnetic order below 10 K. For CeVSb3, the easy axis of magnetization is parallel to c in the ordered state, whereas for the antiferromagnetic RVSb3 members of Pr, Nd, Tb, and Dy, the crystalline fields confine the spins close to the a-axis. Given that CeVSb3 is a rare example of a Ce based ferromagnet, we measured the pressure dependence of Tc up to 10 kbar and found it to increase at a rate of 0.14 K/kbar.