New magnetic orderings in elemental Neodymium*

The element neodymium is one of the most magnetically complex elements. Previous reports find a myriad of magnetic phases as a function of temperature and field below the antiferromagnetic transition temperature of 19.9 K [1-3]. Here we present a small angle neutron scattering (SANS) study of neodymium to probe whether the complex magnetic interactions on the double hexagonal closed packed (DHCP) crystal structure of neodymium can host novel spin textures. The SANS measurements reveal several new features. Firstly, the measurements establish regions in the HT phase diagram where scattering patterns characteristic of a skyrmion lattice are present. Additionally, we find new low field phase boundaries and pockets that bear some semblance to existing phase diagrams of skrymion materials.

References

[1] B. Lebech, J. Appl. Phys. 52, 2019 (1981).
[2] B. Lebech, J. Wolny, and R. M. Moon, J. Phys. Condens. Matter 6, 5201 (1994).
[3] S. W. Zochowski, K. A. McEwen, E. Fawcett, J. Phys. Condens. Matter 3, 8079 (1991).