High-field magnetization of the Ho₂Fe₁₇ single crystals

Most of the modern permanent magnet materials are based on the combination of a 3d transition metal (T) and a rare earth (R). The inter-sublattice exchange field binds the high magnetic moment of the former with the high anisotropy of the latter, either ferri- or ferromagnetically. Applying high external magnetic field one can break down the ferrimagnetic ground state and drive the system towards ferromagnetic order via a non-collinear intermediate phases. This manifests itself in peculiarities of the magnetization curve. In some cases the value of the exchange field can be extracted form those experiments [1, 2]. Here we report on a magnetization measurement on single crystals of Ho2Fe17 in the fields up to 60 Tesla. Magnetization measured in the basal plane shows jumps. The highest one, measured along [100] is observed at about 55 Tesla . Considering that both R and T moments rotation is constrained within the basal plane we describe observed curve shape.