Investigation of magnetic phase transitions in HfFe6Ge6-type Gd1−xErxMn6Sn6 intermetallics

The magnetic properties of polycrystalline HfFe6Ge6-type Gd1−xErxMn6Sn6 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) compounds have been studied in the temperature range of 5 < T < 350 K. For the compounds with x = 0-0.75, ferrimagnetic behavior is observed in the whole temperature range. The x = 0.8 compound shows paramagnetic-ferrimagnetic-antiferromagnetic-ferrimagnetic phase transitions with decreasing temperature while the compounds with x = 0.9 and 1 show paramagnetic-antiferromagnetic-ferrimagnetic phase transitions only. For the x = 0.8 compound the metamagnetic phase transition from antiferromagnetism to ferrimagnetism is induced by an applied field of 20 kOe.