Novel magnetization processes of NdCu2Si2 single crystal

Magnetic susceptibility, magnetization and specific heat measurements have been performed on a NdCu2Si2 single crystal and polycrystalline compounds. The susceptibility along the c-axis shows an antiferromagnetic behavior and an anomaly at TN = 9.8 K. Magnetic moments direct to the c-axis, but the magnetic easy direction is nevertheless the [1 0 0] direction in the basal plane. Magnetization along [1 0 0] is only 1.9 μB at 7 T. The c-axis magnetization shows a metamagnetic transition at 4.1 T, which comes from a spin-flop. In magnetic specific heat versus T, a λ-type anomaly and a Schottky anomaly appear around TN and 5 K, respectively. Magnetic entropy of Rln6 is released below 30 K. The existence of three doublet levels having 12 and 39 K intervals can be deduced.