Specific heat and neutron diffraction study on quaternary sulfides BaNd2CoS5 and BaNd2ZnS5

Magnetic and electrical properties are investigated for quaternary neodymium sulfides BaNd2TS5 (T=Co, Zn) through the specific heat, neutron diffraction, and electrical conductivity measurements. Their electrical conductivities show semiconductive behavior, which follows the Arrhenius temperature dependence with the activation energy of Ea=1.46 eV for BaNd2ZnS5 and Ea=1.19 eV for BaNd2CoS5. The specific heat of BaNd2ZnS5 has a λ-type anomaly at 2.8 K due to the antiferromagnetic ordering of the Nd3+ moments and a Schottky-type anomaly at around 60 K, which results from the crystal field splitting of the 4I9/2 ground state of the Nd3+ ion. The specific heat of BaNd2CoS5 shows two λ-type anomalies at 5.7 K due to the antiferromagnetic ordering of Nd3+ and at 58 K due to the antiferromagnetic ordering of Co2+. The latter overlaps with the Schottky-type anomaly due to the crystal field splitting of the Nd3+ ion. Neutron diffraction measurements for BaNd2CoS5 show that a magnetic arrangement of the Co2+ moments has a collinear antiferromagnetic structure, while that of the Nd3+ moments has a noncollinear one