Spin reorientation and Ce-Mn coupling in antiferromagnetic oxypnictide CeMnAsO

Structure and magnetic properties of high-quality polycrystlline CeMnAsO, a parent compound of the "1111"-type oxypnictides, have been investigated using neutron powder diffraction and magnetization measurements. We find that CeMnAsO undergoes a C-type antiferromagnetic order with Mn$^{2+}$ ($S=5/2$) moments pointing along the \textit{c}-axis below a relatively high Néel temperature of $T_{\rm N} = 345$ K. Below $T_{\rm SR} = 35$ K, two instantaneous transitions occur where the Mn moments reorient from the $c$-axis to the \textit{ab}-plane preserving the C-type magnetic order, and Ce moments undergo long-range AFM ordering with antiparallel moments pointing in the \textit{ab}-plane. Another transition to a noncollinear magnetic structure occurs below 7 K. The ordered moments of Mn and Ce at 2 K are 3.32(4) $μ_{B}$ and 0.81(4)$μ_{B}$, respectively. We find that CeMnAsO primarily falls into the category of a local-moment antiferromagnetic insulator in which the nearest-neighbor interaction ($J_{1}$) is dominant with $J_{2}<J_{1}/2$ in the context of $J_{1}-J_{2}-J_{c}$ model. The spin reorientation transition driven by the coupling between rare earth Ce and transition metal seems to be common to Mn, Fe and Cr ions, but not to Co and Ni ions in the iso-structural oxypnictides. A schematic illustration of magnetic structures in Mn and Ce sublattices in CeMnAsO is proposed.

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