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arXiv · 2503.24227

Ambient and high pressure studies of structural, electronic and magnetic properties of EuZn$_2$P$_2$ single crystal

Damian Rybicki·Kamila Komędera·Janusz Przewoźnik·Łukasz Gondek·Czesław Kapusta·Karolina Podgórska·Wojciech Tabiś·Jan Żukrowski·Lan Maria Tran·Michał Babij·Zbigniew Bukowski·Ladislav Havela·Volodymyr Buturlim·Jiri Prchal·Martin Divis·Petr Kral·Ilja Turek·Itzhak Halevy·Jiri Kastil·Martin Misek·Dominik Legut
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Abstract

A thorough study of EuZn$_2$P$_2$ single crystals, which were grown from Sn flux, was performed using both bulk (heat capacity, ac susceptibility, dc magnetization, electrical resistivitivity, magnetoresistance) and microscopic (M\"ossbauer spectroscopy) techniques. Electrical resistance and magnetic susceptibility were measured also under high pressure conditions (up to 19 GPa and 9.5 GPa, respectively). Further insight into electronic properties and phonons is provided by ab initio calculations. The results indicate that EuZn$_2$P$_2$ is an antiferromagnet with strong Eu-Eu exchange coupling of ferromagnetic type within the basal plane and weaker antiferromagnetic interaction along the c axis. The Eu magnetic moments are tilted from the basal plane. Hydrostatic pressure strongly affects both magnetic (increase of the N\'eel temperature) and electronic (suppression of the band gap and semi metallic behavior) properties, indicating a strong interplay of structure with magnetic and electronic degrees of freedom.

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Damian Rybicki, Kamila Komędera, Janusz Przewoźnik, Łukasz Gondek, Czesław Kapusta, Karolina Podgórska, Wojciech Tabiś, Jan Żukrowski, Lan Maria Tran, Michał Babij, Zbigniew Bukowski, Ladislav Havela, Volodymyr Buturlim, Jiri Prchal, Martin Divis, Petr Kral, Ilja Turek, Itzhak Halevy, Jiri Kastil, Martin Misek, Dominik Legut. 2025-03-31. Ambient and high pressure studies of structural, electronic and magnetic properties of EuZn$_2$P$_2$ single crystal. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.110.014421

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