CHARACTERISATION OF THE ANTIFERROMAGNETIC TRANSITION OF CU2FESNS4, THE SYNTHETIC ANALOGUE OF STANNITE

Abstract

Magnetisation measurements were performed on the synthetic analogue of stannite, Cu2FeSnS4, in order to characterise the antiferromagnetic transition at low temperature, evidenced by Bernardini et al. (2000). Temperature and field dependence of the material were checked by means of static magnetisation measurements, carried out scanning the magnetic fields up to 12 T and temperatures in the range 1.4-20 K, while ac susceptibility data were collected at different frequencies ranging from 1.8 to 510 Hz. Both static and dynamic magnetisation data, performed above and below the Neel temperature, 6.1(2) K, confirm stannite to order antiferromagnetically at a long-range scale. Moreover, an increase of both the magnetic anisotropy and the exchange interaction, with respect to the Mn-analogue (Fries et al. 1997), has been observed.