First-order-like antiferromagnetic transition in rare-earth palladium bronze SmPd3S4

Abstract

Specific-heat and magnetic susceptibility measurements were performed on the single-crystalline and polycrystalline samples of SmPd3S 4. The magnetic susceptibility does not exhibit a cusp at the Neél temperature TN, which is commonly observed in antiferromagnets, but a first-order like discontinuous decrease below T N. One of the possible origins of a first-order like transition is a simultaneous occurrence of a magnetic-dipolar and a higher multipolar orders. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.