Magnetism in RRhGe (R = Tb, Dy, Er, Tm): An experimental and theoretical study

Highlights: • RRhGe (R = Tb, Dy, Er, Tm) compounds show low temperature antiferromagnetic ordering. • All compounds show field induced metamagnetic transitions. • Some of these compounds show large magnetocaloric effect and magnetoresistance. • Change of sign in MR take place on temperature variation. - Abstract: RRhGe (R = Tb, Dy, Er, Tm) compounds have been studied by different experimental probes and theoretical ab initio calculations. These compounds show very interesting magnetic and transport properties. All the compounds are antiferromagnetic with some of them showing spin-reorientation transition at low temperatures. The magnetocaloric effect estimated from magnetization data shows high values in all these compounds. Magnetoresistance is negative near the ordering temperatures and positive at low temperatures. The electronic structure calculations accounting for electronic correlations in the 4f rare-earth shell reveal the closeness of the antiferromagnetic ground state and other types of magnetic orderings in the rare-earth sublattice. These calculations are also in agreement with the experimental results