Anomalous magnetoresistance and magneto-thermal properties of the half-Heuslers,RPdSi (RY, Gd-Er)

Magneto-transport and thermoelectric studies of antiperovskite semimetal: Mn3SnC

We explore the magnetotransport and thermoelectric (Seebeck and Nernst coefficients) properties of Mn3SnC, an antiperovskite magnetic Nodal line semimetal. Mn3SnC shows paramagnetic (PM) to concurrent antiferromagnetic (AFM)/ferromagnetic (FM) transition atT∼ 286 K. The electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient indicate the importance of electron-magnon scattering in the concurrent AFM/FM regime. We observed a large positive magnetoresistance (MR) of ∼8.2 at 8 T field near magnetic transition, in the otherwise negative MR behaviour for low temperatures. The electrical resistivity and MR show a weak thermal hysteresis around the boundary of transition temperature and the width of hysteresis decreases as magnetic field increases. Interestingly the Hall and Seebeck coefficients change sign from positive to negative below the transition temperature, highlighting the different scattering for holes and electrons in this multi-band system. The Seebeck and Nernst signal exhibit two sharp anomalies; one at the transition temperature and another at ∼50 K. The anomaly at magnetic transition in the Nernst signal disappear at 8 T magnetic field, owing to the reduction of magnetic fluctuation. A pseudo-gap near the Fermi level produces an upturn with a broad minimum in the Seebeck signal.

Structural and Magnetic Properties of Inverse-Heusler Mn2FeSi Alloy Powder Prepared by Ball Milling

Ternary Mn₂FeSi alloy was synthesized from pure elemental powders by mechanical alloying, using a high-energy planetary ball mill. The formation of an inverse-Heusler phase after 168 h of milling and subsequent annealing at 1173 K for 1.5 h was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The diffractogram analysis yielded XA structure and the lattice parameter 0.5677 nm in a good agreement with the theoretically obtained value of 0.560 nm. The final powder was formed by particles of irregular shape and median diameter D50 of 3.8 μm and their agglomerates. The chemical analysis resulted in the mean composition of 49.0 at.% Mn, 25.6 at.% Fe and 25.4 at.% Si. At room temperature, the prepared samples featured a heterogeneous magnetic structure consisting of dominant paramagnetic phase confirmed by Mössbauer spectrometry and a weak ferro-/ferrimagnetic contribution detected by magnetization curves. From the field-cooled and zero-field-cooled curves the Néel temperature of 67 K was determined.