Anisotropic spin-glass-like and quasi-one-dimensional magnetic behavior in the intermetallic compound Tb₂PdSi₃

Abstract

We report temperature-dependent ac susceptibility (χ) measurements on a high-quality single crystal of Tb₂PdSi₃, crystallizing in a AlB₂-derived hexagonal structure. This compound is found to exhibit features attributable to quasi-low-dimensional magnetism at high temperatures and anisotropic spin-glass-like behavior at low temperatures (<10K) with an unusually large frequency dependence of peak temperature in ac χ(T). This compound thus presents a novel situation in metallic magnetism, considering that the former phenomenon is normally encountered only among insulators, whereas the anisotropic spin-glass-like behavior, to our knowledge, has not been known in stoichiometric intermetallic compounds.