Griffiths phase behaviour in a frustrated antiferromagnetic intermetallic compound

Abstract

The rare coexistence of a Griffiths phase (GP) and a geometrically frustrated antiferromagnetism in the non-stoichiometric intermetallic compound GdFe 0.17 Sn 2 (the paramagnetic Weiss temperature p ‰∼ ‰ '59 ‰K) is reported in this work. The compound forms in the Cmcm space group with large structural anisotropy (b/c ‰∼ ‰4). Interestingly, all the atoms in the unit cell possess the same point group symmetry (Wycoff position 4c), which is rather rare. The frustration parameter, f ‰= ‰| p |/T N has been established as 3.6, with the Néel temperature T N and Griffiths temperature T G being 16.5 and 32 ‰K, respectively. The T G has been determined from the heat capacity measurement and also from the magnetocaloric effect (MCE). It is also shown that substantial difference in GP region may exist between zero field and field cooled measurements - a fact hitherto not emphasized so far.