Magnetostriction study of a U0.8Lu0.2Fe2 single crystal

Effect of dilution of the U sublattice by non-magnetic Lu on the magnetic anisotropy and magnetostriction of UFe2 has been studied on single crystals of U0.8Lu0.2Fe2. The observed change of the anisotropy-type from the 〈1 1 1〉 easy-magnetization axis in UFe2 to the 〈1 0 0〉 axis in U0.8Lu0.2Fe2 is accompanied by disappearance of the spontaneous magnetostrictive distortion in U0.8Lu0.2Fe2 due to small magnetostriction constant λ1 0 0 = 0.26 × 10−3 (at 4.2 K). Nevertheless, the magnetostriction measurements revealed that U0.80Lu0.20Fe2 has large λ1 1 1 = 1.2 × 10−3 which belongs to a “giant magnetostriction” range.