1204.1736 (B. Cheng et al.)

Two successive field-induced spin-flop transitions in single-crystalline
CaCo$_{2}$As$_{2}$    [PDF]

B. Cheng, B. F. Hu, R. H. Yuan, T. Dong, A. F. Fang, Z. G. Chen, G. Xu, Y. G. Shi, P. Zheng, J. L. Luo, N. L. Wang

CaCo$_{2}$As$_{2}$, a ThCr$_{2}$Si$_{2}$-structure compound, undergoes an antiferromagnetic transition at \emph{T$_{N}$}=76K with the magnetic moments being aligned parallel to the \emph{c} axis. Electronic transport measurement reveals that the coupling between conducting carriers and magnetic order in CaCo$_{2}$As$_{2}$ is much weaker comparing to the parent compounds of iron pnictide. Applying magnetic field along \emph{c} axis induces two successive spin-flop transitions in its magnetic state. The magnetization saturation behaviors with \emph{\textbf{H}$\parallel$c} and \emph{\textbf{H}$\parallel$ab} at 10K indicate that the antiferromagnetic coupling along \emph{c} direction is very weak. The interlayer antiferromagntic coupling constant \emph{J$_{c}$} is estimated to be about 2 meV.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.1736