Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Rare-earth intermetallic compounds R₂Co₁₇ and R₂Fe₁₇ form an interesting group of magnetic materials and their properties have been extensively studied in the last decades. In these compounds, as generally in R-T transition-metal compounds, the strongest interaction is the 3d-3d interaction which primarily determines T_C. The 4f-3d interaction, although much weaker than the 3d-3d interaction, is of special importance since it couples the strongly anisotropic R-sublattice moment to that one of much less anisotropic T-sublattice. R₂Co₁₇ and R₂Fe₁₇ compounds (crystallizing in the hexagonal Th₂Ni₁₇-type structure), where R is a heavy rare-earth element, are ferrimagnetic and high magnetic fields are needed to induce changes in the magnetic configuration.