Single crystal growth and characterization of GdRh$_2$Si$_2$

TL;DR

This study reports the successful growth of high-quality GdRh$_2$Si$_2$ single crystals using high-temperature indium flux, and characterizes their magnetic, thermal, and electrical properties, revealing antiferromagnetic ordering and anisotropic transport behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a modified Bridgman method with indium flux for growing large, high-quality GdRh$_2$Si$_2$ single crystals and provides detailed characterization of their physical properties.

Findings

Antiferromagnetic transition at 107 K observed.

Large anisotropy in electrical resistivity below T_N.

High residual resistivity ratio indicating high crystal quality.

Abstract

High-temperature indium flux growth was applied to prepare single crystals of GdRh$_2$Si$_2$ by a modified Bridgman method leading to mm-sized single crystals with a platelet habitus. Specific heat and susceptibility data of GdRh$_2$Si$_2$ exhibit a pronounced anomaly at $T_N = 107\rm \,K$, where the AFM ordering sets in. Magnetic measurements on the single crystals were performed down to $T = 2$\,K in external fields from B = 0 - 9\,T applied along the $[100]$-, $[110]$- and $[001]$-direction of the tetragonal lattice. The effective magnetic moment determined from a Curie-Weiss fit agrees well with values from literature, and is larger than the theoretically predicted value. Electrical transport data recorded for current flow parallel and perpendicular to the $[001]$-direction show a large anisotropy below $T_N$. The residual resistivity ratio $\rm RRR=\rho_{300K}/\rho_{0}\sim 23$ demonstrates that we succeeded in preparing high-quality crystals using high-temperature indium flux-growth.