Itinerant-electron metamagnetism of

Abstract

Electronic structures of the pseudo-binary compound with the -type hexagonal structure are calculated in the self-consistent linear muffin-tin orbital method within the atomic sphere approximation, by taking into account the preferential occupation sites for Ni. The calculated bulk moment disappears abruptly near 60% Ni concentration. Above the critical concentration of Ni, a metamagnetic transition from the paramagnetic to the ferromagnetic state is found to occur. These calculated results are consistent with the recently observed ones. It has been shown that the anomalous magnetic behaviours of can be explained by the detailed shape of the local density-of-states curve of the 3d-transition-metal atoms at the 3g site near the Fermi level.