Magnetic structures of R₃Cu₄Sn₄(R = Pr and Nd)

Abstract

Polycrystalline samples of R3Cu4Sn4 (R = Pr and Nd) intermetallics were studied with neutron diffraction methods. Both of them crystallize in the orthorhombic structure of Gd3Cu4Ge4-type. Pr3Cu4Sn4 orders antiferromagnetically below the N?el temperature of about 11?K whereas Nd3Cu4Sn4 does not order magnetically down to 1.5?K. In Pr3Cu4Sn4 the magnetic moments are localized at the Pr atoms that occupy two non-equivalent 2d and 4e sublattices and order simultaneously at the N?el temperature forming a collinear magnetic order along the x-direction.