Magnetic exchange driven magnetoelastic properties in GdCu2

The magnetoelastic properties of GdCu2 have been investigated by thermal ex pansion and magnetostriction measurements. GdCu2 orders anti ferromagnetica lly with a noncollinear magnetic structure. The anisotropic magnetostrictio n is of similar magnitude as in other RCu2 compounds and can be explained b y a contribution of the bilinear exchange interaction to the magnetoelastic energy. For several compounds this contribution is as important as the sin gle ion magnetoelastic exchange. The pressure dependence of the Neel temper ature of GdCu2 is found to be in agreement with the data of thermal expansi on, (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.