Magnetic phase transitions in NdCu2 under pressure

The electrical resistivity on a NdCu2 single crystal was measured as a function of temperature, hydrostatic pressure and magnetic field. At ambient pressure, a complex phase diagram with T-N = 5.86K and two spin reorientation temperatures of T-R1 = 3.78 K and T-R2 = 3.25 K is found. Under external pressure, T-N, T-R1 and T-R2 decrease by increasing pressure, and T-R2 vanishes under 9 kbar. In the field dependence of the magnetoresistance, we find anomalies at three metamagnetic transitions, which under pressure are initially shifted to lower values but increase again for pressures beyond 5 kbar. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.