Parastriction: A new probe for quadrupolar interactions in rare-earth compounds

Abstract

We present a new method called parastriction for investigating the quadrupolar interactions in cubic rare-earth intermetallic compounds. Parastriction measures the rare-earth quadrupolar moment induced by an applied magnetic field through the anisotropic deformation of the lattice. The magnetoelastic coefficients associated with the two principal strain modes (tetragonal and rhombohedral) are thereby obtained. The quadrupolar exchange parameters may be evaluated without any ambiguity for compounds with low magnetic-ordering temperature. Application to the heavy rare-earth---zinc compounds is then given.