Magnetic structure in iron borates RFe₃(BO₃)₄(R = Y,Ho): a neutron diffraction and magnetization study

Abstract

Neutron diffraction, susceptibility and magnetization measurements were performed on iron borates RFe3(BO3)4 (R = Y, Ho) to investigate the low temperature magnetic structures and to clarify the role of the rare earth in the formation of the long-range magnetic order. Both compounds see an identical magnetic propagation vector τ = [0,0,1/2] within the P3121 crystallographic space group appear at Néel temperatures of TN = 37 K for the Y and TN = 38 K for the Ho compound. The strong polarization effect of the Fe sublattice on the Ho3+ ions leads to the simultaneous ordering of both sublattices while the competition between their anisotropies governs the spin-reorientation process at TSR = 5 K. The results obtained are discussed in the framework of the determined structural details and the specific rare-earth ions present including information on compounds investigated earlier.