Reentrant behavior in the temperature dependence of metamagnetic transitions in single crystal Nd6Fe13-xAl1+x

Nd6Fe13-xAl1+x, (delta) is a complex antiferromagnet with a Neel temperatur e that ranges from similar to 250 K to similar to 350 K. Studies of polycry stalline samples of the Nd compound have shown that the material undergoes a series of metamagnetic transitions as a function of magnetic field. In th e present study, single crystals of delta have been grown and characterized . Low temperature magnetization studies demonstrate that there are a number of competing magnetic interactions in the material, which have different t emperature dependencies. As a result, for a narrow range of fields, the del ta crystals exhibit unique reentrant magnetization versus temperature behav ior.