Magnetic structure of Tb<inf>2</inf>Mn<inf>3</inf>Si<inf>5</inf>

Magnetization (M) and neutron diffraction measurements have been carried out on a polycrystalline Sc2Fe3Si5-type Tb2Mn3Si5 compound (space group P4/mnc) in the temperature range of 1.8-300 K. The compound undergoes a transition from a room temperature paramagnetic phase to a ferromagnetic phase at 89 K (TC1). A Curie-Weiss type behaviour is observed in the paramagnetic region at temperatures above 150 K. In this compound, both the rare earth (Tb) and Mn ions carry magnetic moments and there are two Mn magnetic sublattices, one coupling ferromagnetically and the other coupling antiferromagnetically with that of rare earth. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.