Pressure Evolution of Magnetism in URhGa

TL;DR

This study investigates how pressure influences the magnetic properties and phase diagram of URhGa, a uranium-based ferromagnet, revealing an initial increase in Curie temperature with pressure up to 5 GPa.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed pressure-dependent magnetic and thermodynamic measurements of URhGa, constructing its p-T phase diagram and analyzing magnetic evolution under pressure.

Findings

Curie temperature increases with pressure up to 5 GPa

Saturated magnetic moment slightly decreases under pressure

Pressure-induced magnetic behavior is compared to UTX compounds

Abstract

In this paper, we report the results of an ambient and high pressure study of a 5f-electron ferromagnet URhGa. The work is focused on measurements of magnetic and thermodynamic properties of a single crystal sample and on the construction of the p-T phase diagram. Diamond anvil cells were employed to measure the magnetization and electrical resistivity pressures up to ~ 9 GPa. At ambient pressure, URhGa exhibits collinear ferromagnetic ordering of uranium magnetic moments {\mu}U ~ 1.1 {\mu}B (at 2 K) aligned along the c-axis of the hexagonal crystal structure below the Curie temperature TC = 41K. With the application of pressure up to 5GPa the ordering temperature TC initially increases whereas the saturated moment slightly decreases. The rather unexpected evolution is put in the context of the UTX family of compounds.