Magnetostriction study of a U0.8Lu0.2Fe2 single crystal

Abstract Effect of dilution of the U sublattice by non-magnetic Lu on the magnetic anisotropy and magnetostriction of UFe 2 has been studied on single crystals of U 0.8 Lu 0.2 Fe 2 . The observed change of the anisotropy-type from the 〈1 1 1〉 easy-magnetization axis in UFe 2 to the 〈1 0 0〉 axis in U 0.8 Lu 0.2 Fe 2 is accompanied by disappearance of the spontaneous magnetostrictive distortion in U 0.8 Lu 0.2 Fe 2 due to small magnetostriction constant λ 1 0 0  = 0.26 × 10 −3 (at 4.2 K). Nevertheless, the magnetostriction measurements revealed that U 0.80 Lu 0.20 Fe 2 has large λ 1 1 1  = 1.2 × 10 −3 which belongs to a “giant magnetostriction” range.