Anomalous phase of MnP at very low field

Abstract

Manganese phosphide MnP has been investigated for decades because of its rich magnetic phase diagram. It is well known that the MnP exhibits the ferromagnetic phase transition at TC = 292 K and the helical magnetic phase below TN = 47 K at zero field. Recently, a novel magnetic phase transition was observed at T* = 282 K when the magnetic field is lower than 5 Oe. However, the nature of the new phase has not been illuminated yet. In order to reveal it, we performed the AC and the DC magnetization measurements for a single crystal MnP at very low field. A divergent behavior of the real and the imaginary part of the AC susceptibility and a sharp increase of the DC magnetization was observed at T*, indicating the magnetic phase transition at T*. Furthermore a peculiar temperature hysteresis was observed: namely, the magnetization depends on whether cooling sample to the temperature lower than TN or not before the measurements. This hysteresis phenomenon suggests the complicated nature of the new phase and a strong relation between the magnetic state of the new phase and the helical structure. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.