In-depth study of the H - T phase diagram of Sr 4 Ru 3 O 10 by magnetization experiments
Here, we present magnetization measurements on Sr 4 Ru 3 O 10 as a function of temperature and magnetic field applied perpendicular to the magnetic easy c-axis inside the ferromagnetic phase. Peculiar metamagnetism evolves in Sr 4 Ru 3 O 10 below the ferromagnetic transition T C as a double step in the magnetization at two critical fields H c1 and H c2 . We map the Sr 4 Ru 3 O 10 - T phase diagram with special focus on the temperature range 50 K ≤ T ≤ T C . We find that the critical field H c1 ( T ) connects the field and temperature axes of the phase diagram, whereas the Sr 4 Ru 3 O 10 c2 boundary starts at 2.8 T for the lowest temperatures and ends in a critical endpoint at (1 T; 80 K). We also conclude from the temperature dependence of the ratio H c1/ H c2( T ) that the double metamagnetic transition is an intrinsic effect of the material and it is not caused by sample stacking faults such as twinning or partial in-plane rotation between layers.