Exploring metamagnetism of single crystalline EuNiGe$_3$ by neutron scattering
Abstract
We present here a neutron diffraction study, both in zero field and as a function of magnetic field, of the magnetic structure of the tetragonal intermetallic EuNiGe$_3$ on a single crystalline sample. This material is known to undergo a cascade of transitions, first at 13.2 K towards an incommensurate modulated magnetic structure, then at 10.5 K to an antiferromagnetic structure. We show here that the low-temperature phase presents a spiral moment arrangement with wave vector $k$ = ($1\over 4$ ,δ,0). For a magnetic field applied along the tetragonal $c$ axis, the square root of the scattering intensity of the (1 0 1) reflection matches very well the complex metamagnetic behavior of the magnetization along $c$ measured previously. For the magnetic field applied along the $b$ axis, two magnetic transitions are observed below the transition to a fully polarized state.
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