Magnetic phenomena in equiatomic ternary rare earth compounds

The chapter discusses the structural and magnetic properties of equiatomic ternary RTX compounds, where R represents rare earth, T is transition metal, and X belongs to the p block elements. RTX compounds exhibit a variety of crystal structures, which leads to a range of magnetic phenomenon ranging from long range antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic ordering, unconventional superconductivity, magnetic frustration to spin ices. Coexistence of various magnetic phenomenon result in many exotic properties, which make these materials promising for next generation technological applications. In RTX family of compounds, most transition metals, except manganese, Mn do not contribute significantly to the magnetic moment and behave as non-magnetic. The lack of magnetic behaviour in the transition metal sublattices of these ternary compounds may be attributed to hybridization between p electron states of X atom and d electron states of the transition metal, resulting in the filling of the d band. The dominant interaction in these compounds is of Ruderman Kittel Kasuya Yosida type due to the localized nature of the 4f electrons in the rare earths. The magnetic transition temperature in these materials varies from ultra-low to high temperatures, making them suitable for integration into devices operating at room temperature. The RTX series discussed here encompasses all rare earth elements, a range of transition metals, and various p-block elements such as Al, Ga, In, Si, Ge, Sn, Sb, and Bi. Most of the materials studied are arc melted polycrystalline materials with some in the form of single crystal or thin films.