Magnetic, Transport, and Thermal Properties of Single Crystals of the Layered Arsenide BaMn2As2

TL;DR

This study reports the synthesis and comprehensive characterization of BaMn2As2 single crystals, revealing its antiferromagnetic, semiconducting, and structural properties, and suggesting its potential as a parent compound for superconductors.

Contribution

First detailed growth and analysis of BaMn2As2 crystals, establishing its magnetic, electrical, and thermal properties and identifying it as a potential superconductor parent.

Findings

BaMn2As2 is an antiferromagnet with T_N ~ 500 K.

It behaves as a small band-gap semiconductor with an activation energy of ~0.03 eV.

The compound has a tetragonal ThCr2Si2-type structure and a Debye temperature of 246 K.

Abstract

Growth of BaMn2As2 crystals using both MnAs and Sn fluxes is reported. Room temperature crystallography, anisotropic isothermal magnetization M versus field H and magnetic susceptibility chi versus temperature T, electrical resistivity in the ab plane rho(T), and heat capacity C(T) measurements on the crystals were carried out. The tetragonal ThCr2Si2-type structure of BaMn2As2 is confirmed. After correction for traces of ferromagnetic MnAs impurity phase using M(H) isotherms, the inferred intrinsic chi(T) data of the crystals are anisotropic with chi_{ab}/chi_{c} \approx 7.5 at T = 2 K. The temperature dependences of the anisotropic chi data suggest that BaMn2As2 is a collinear antiferromagnet at room temperature with the easy axis along the c axis, and with an extrapolated Neel temperature T_N \sim 500 K. The rho(T) decreases with decreasing T below 310 K but then increases below \sim 50 K, suggesting that BaMn2As2 is a small band-gap semiconductor with an activation energy of order 0.03 eV. The C(T) data from 2 to 5 K are consistent with this insulating ground state, exhibiting a low temperature Sommerfeld coefficient gamma = 0.0(4) mJ/mol K^2. The Debye temperature is determined from these data to be theta_D = 246(4) K. BaMn2As2 is a potential parent compound for ThCr2Si2-type superconductors.