Anisotropic magnetic behavior in CeCrSb₃

Abstract

We report the single crystal growth, anisotropic dc magnetic susceptibility χ(T), isothermal magnetization M(H), electrical resistivity ρ(T) and heat capacity C(T) measurements of a layered compound CeCrSb₃. The crystal exhibits ferromagnetic ordering below 115 K due to ordering of Cr spins. The magnetic properties are anisotropic in this orthorhombic system with χ_b/χ_a=8 below 5 K. Unlike all previous heat capacity measurements in both poly and single crystalline samples of RCrSb₃, one observes a well-defined heat capacity anomaly at T_C in this crystal. The ρ(T) and C(T) measurements also confirm the anisotropic bulk ferromagnetic ordering at T_C=115k. In addition, the presence of Ce ion enriches the magnetic phase diagram of CeCrSb3 compared to that of LaCrSb₃. At high fields the magnetization along c-axis saturates to 2.2 _μB/f.u., a value much higher than saturation moment of Cr (1.5_μB/f.u.,) in LaCrSb₃, suggesting magnetic ordering of Ce³⁺ ions, at high fields.