Magnetic phase diagrams of erbium

The magnetic phase diagrams of erbium in the magnetic field-temperature plane have been constructed for applied magnetic fields along the a and b axes. For an a-axis applied field our H-T phase diagrams determined from magnetization and magnetoresistance data are in good agreement and consistent with that of Jehan et al. for temperatures below 50 K. A splitting of the basal plane Neel temperature (T-N perpendicular to) above 3.75 T introduces two new magnetic phases. Also a transition from a fan to a canted fan phase as suggested by Jehan et al. is observed in an increasing field below T-C. Our phase diagram for a b-axis applied field constructed from magnetization data is very similar to the phase diagram of Watson and Ali using magnetoresistance measurements. However, the anomaly at 42 K reported by Watson and Ali is not observed in the present study. No splitting of the T-N perpendicular to transition is observed in either work for a field applied along the b axis. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)41308-8].