Magnetic and transport properties of PrRhSi3
We have investigated the magnetic and transport properties of a noncentrosymmetric compound PrRhSi3 by dc magnetic susceptibility χ(T), isothermal magnetization M(H), thermoremanent magnetization M(t), specific heat Cp(T), electrical resistivity ρ(T,H) and muon spin relaxation (μSR) measurements. At low fields χ(T) shows two anomalies near 15 and 7 K with an irreversibility between ZFC and FC data below 15 K. In contrast, no anomaly is observed in Cp(T) or ρ(T) data. M(H) data at 2 K exhibit very sharp increase below 0.5 T and a weak hysteresis. M(t) exhibits very slow relaxation, typical for a spin-glass system. Even though the absence of any anomaly in Cp(T) is consistent with the spin-glass type behavior, there is no obvious origin of spin-glass behavior in this structurally well ordered compound. The crystal electric field (CEF) analysis of Cp(T) data indicates a CEF-split singlet ground state lying below a doublet at 81(1) K and a quasi-triplet at 152(2) K. The ρ(T) data indicate a metallic behavior, and ρ(H) exhibits a very high positive magnetoresistance, as high as ∼300% in 9 T at 2 K. No long range magnetic order or spin-glass behavior was detected in a μSR experiment down to 1.2 K.
Investigations of the singlet ground state system: PrIrSi3
We report our comprehensive study of physical properties of a ternary intermetallic compound PrIrSi3 investigated by dc magnetic susceptibility χ(T), isothermal magnetization M(H), thermo-remnant magnetization M(t), ac magnetic susceptibility χac(T), specific heat Cp(T), electrical resistivity ρ(T), muon spin relaxation (µSR) and inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements. A magnetic phase transition is marked by a sharp anomaly at Ttr = 12.2 K in χ(T) measured at low applied fields which is also reflected in the Cp(T) data through a weak anomaly at 12 K. An irreversibility between the zero field cooled and field cooled χ(T) data below 12.2 K and a very large relaxation time of M(t) indicates the presence of ferromagnetic correlation. The magnetic part of specific heat shows a broad Schottky-type anomaly near 40 K due to the crystal electric field (CEF) effect. An extremely small value of magnetic entropy below 12 K suggests a CEF-split singlet ground state which is confirmed from our analysis of INS data. The INS spectra show two prominent inelastic excitations at 8.5 meV and 18.5 meV that could be well accounted by a CEF model. The CEF splitting energy between the ground state singlet and the first excited doublet is found to be 92 K. Our µSR data reveal a possible magnetic ordering below 30 K, which is much higher than that found from the specific heat and magnetic susceptibility measurements. This could be due to the presence of short range correlations well above the long range magnetic ordering or due to the electronic changes induced by muons. The induced moment magnetism in the singlet ground state system PrIrSi3 with such a large splitting energy of 92 K is quite surprising.
Photoreflectance characterization of vanadium-doped GaAs layers grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy
Abstract We characterized the vanadium-doped (GaAs:V) layers grown on GaAs substrate by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The conductivity of the samples is checked by the Hall effect measurements, and it is n type with electrons concentration ranging from 2×10 13 to 2×10 17  cm −3 . We used the photoreflectance technique (PR) to study the effect of vanadium doping on the optical properties of GaAs. Our experimental results show that the built-in electric field F and the broadening parameter Γ 0 increase with V-doping concentration. Furthermore, the temperature dependence of the built-in electric field and the broadening parameter of GaAs:V samples have been investigated by PR. It has been observed that these parameters increase with increasing temperature. The decrease of the built-in electric field with decreasing temperature is due to the photovoltage effect.We characterized the vanadium-doped GaAs (GaAs:V) layers grown on GaAs substrate by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy.