Magnetic and Electrical Properties of a Single-Grained Al₇₀Pd₂₁Mn₉Icosahedral Quasicrystal

Abstract

The magnetization of a stable single-grained Al 70 Pd 21 Mn 9 icosahedral quasicrystal has been investigated in the temperature region between 2 and 600 K below the magnetic field 80 kOe. The susceptibility yields a Curie constant 1.75×10 -4 cgsemu·K/g, a Curie temperature -1.62 K, and a constant susceptibility contribution -0.25×10 -8 cgsemu/g. Magnetization curves at low temperatures suggest that only about 1% of the Mn atoms are magnetic. The temperature dependence of the susceptibility above 300 K shows a positive T 2 contribution, which has been first observed in magnetic quasicrystals and is considered to originate from a pseudogap in the electronic density of states at E F causing the stability. Temperature- and magnetic-field-dependencies of the electrical conductivity are well accounted for by a weak localization theory including spin and spin-orbit scattering. The agreement between the experimental data and the fitting is not improved by adding the diffusion channel contribution of electron-electron interaction effects.