Magnetization curves and probability angular distribution of the magnetization vector in Er2Fe14Si3

Specific magnetic and magneto-thermal properties of Er₂Fe₁₄Si₃, in the temperature range of 80–300 K, have been investigated using basic laws of classical statistical mechanics in a simple model. In this model, the constructed partition function was used to derive, and therefore calculate the temperature and/or field dependence of a host of physical properties. Examples of these properties are: the magnetization, magnetic heat capacity, magnetic susceptibility, probability angular distribution of the magnetization vector, and the associated angular dependence of energy. We highlight a correlation between the energy of the system, its magnetization behavior and the angular location of the magnetization vector. Our results show that Er₂Fe₁₄Si₃ is an easy-axis system in the temperature range 80–114 K, but switches to an easy-plane system at T≥114 K. This transition is also supported by both of the temperature dependence of the magnetic heat capacity, which develops a peak at a temperature ~114 K, and the probability landscape which shows, in zero magnetic field, a prominent peak in the basal plane at T=113.5 K.