Magnetic properties of the cleavable metallic antiferromagnet MnRhBi₃

Layered van der Waals magnets have emerged as an important area of research due to their facile cleavability, which allows properties to be explored in the few and monolayer limit and incorporation into heterostructures and devices. An early success story in this area of research was the exfoliation and characterization of the magnetic properties of CrI₃ which showed that a single layer is ferromagnetic, but that a bilayer behaves as an antiferromagnet. Few examples of cleavable metallic antiferromagnets exist, which may hold promise in low dissipation spintronic devices. In this talk, we will discuss a relatively unexplored metallic cleavable antiferromagnet, MnRhBi₃. Crystalizing in orthorhombic space group Cmmm (65), single crystals easily cleave normal to the layering axis (b = 13.7 Å). The magnetic sublattice consists of two inequivalent Mn sites which form offset linear chains along the c-axis, respectively, with a nearest neighbor Mn-Mn distance of 4.13 Å. Here we present thermodynamic, magnetic, and transport properties. Specific heat capacity and magnetic neutron diffraction confirm two magnetic phase transitions at T_N = 72 K and T_N2 = 36 K. Just above T_N an additional hump in the specific heat hints at a possible structural transition, which is also reflected in the resistivity. The magnetic structure will be discussed and its influence on the transport properties.