Metamagnetic transitions in Nd7Ni3

Metamagnetic transitions in the intermetallic compound Nd7Ni3 have been stu died by measuring magnetization, magnetic susceptibility, magnetostriction as well as by neutron diffraction experiments under external magnetic field s up to 10T. When the field is applied in the c-plane. there are three magn etic namely ferrimagnetic I, ferrimagnetic II and antiferromagnetic phases. In the ferrimagentic I phase, magnetic structure is conical with a basal p lane helical component. In the ferrimagentic II phase: distorted helix stru cture is maintained. There are three metamagnetic transitions characterized by critical fields H-C1, H-C2 and H-C3. Along the c-axis, a conical struct ure exists between Te and TN. Two metamagnetic transitions characterized by H-C4 and N-C5 were observed. The critical field from ferrimagnetic II and antiferromagentic phase has a maximum near 18 K. Magnetic field (H)-tempera ture (T) phase diagrams for both field configurations are presented. A new magnetic or some another kind of phase has been found just above T-N.