STRUCTURAL AND MAGNETIC-PROPERTIES OF INTERMEDIATE OXYGEN STOICHIOMETRY PRBA2CU3OX

The compound PrBa2Cu3Ox (x similar to 7) is non superconducting and ex hibits antiferromagnetic ordering of the Pr moments at a relatively hi gh temperature of about 17 K. We have investigated the structural and magnetic behavior of PrBa2Cu3Ox for two different oxygen contents (x = 6.9 and 6.4). Magnetic susceptibility measurements show that both the se compounds are ordered antiferromagnetically with Neel temperatures of 15.7 and 12.5 K and effective paramagnetic moments of 2.85 mu(B) an d 2.94 mu(B) for x = 6.9 and x = 6.4 samples, respectively. The suscep tibility (chi) of the x = 6.4 sample shows a pronounced peak typical o f antiferromagnetic systems unlike the x = 6.9 sample where chi shows only a slight break and continues to rise even below T-N.