Incommensurate magnetic cycloidal order in noncentrosymmetric E u 2 P d 2 Sn

Abstract

The structural and magnetic properties of the noncentrosymmetric Eu2Pd2Sn compound have been investigated by synchrotron x-ray and neutron powder diffraction and 151Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy. No structural transition was observed in the temperature range 4–290 K. The magnetic phase that develops below ∼13.8(5) K is characterized by an incommensurate cycloidal ordering in the ac plane of the Eu substructure. This magnetic structure shows significant analogies to the structure observed in EuNiGe3, possibly indicating the occurrence of a skyrmion lattice for Eu2Pd2Sn as well.