Sharp fall of electrical resistance for a small application of magnetic field on a metastable form of a compound, Tb5Si3, under pressure

TL;DR

This study reveals that applying a small magnetic field to pressurized Tb5Si3 induces a sharp decrease in electrical resistance by reverting a metastable magnetic phase, highlighting potential spintronic applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates a novel magnetic field-induced resistance change in Tb5Si3 under pressure, showing a metastable phase's sensitivity to small magnetic fields.

Findings

Small magnetic fields can revert metastable magnetic phases.

Electrical resistance drops sharply with minor magnetic field application.

Potential implications for spintronic device development.

Abstract

We report an unusual sensitivity of electrical resistivity (rho) to an application of a small magnetic field in an intermetallic compound, Tb5Si3, under pressure. In this compound, there is a magnetic field-induced first-order magnetic transition at 1.8 K. Under pressure, there is a metastable magnetic phase after reducing the field to zero. This metastable phase is relatively of higher rho and interestingly a small magnetic field (less than 2 kOe) in the reverse direction results in a sharp fall of rho to restore virgin state rho. The present finding could be relevant to spintronic applications.