Magnetism and electron spin resonance in single crystalline β-AgNpO2(SeO3)

We report magnetization, susceptibility, electrical transport, and electron spin resonance (ESR) studies of single crystals of β-AgNpO2(SeO3). Here the valence of the Np sites is expected to be Np(V). We observe a magnetic transition below 8 K, where the transition temperature is dependent on the effective magnetic moment. Although the transition appears to be ferromagnetic, no hysteresis is seen in the magnetization, and the saturation moment above 0.1 T is found to be about 60% of the free NpO2 ion moment. The decrease in the Np moments determined experimentally is thought to arise from crystal field and spin–orbit effects. We observe temperature dependent ESR spectra at ∼44 GHz (for fields above the saturation field) that show slight shifts in the g-factor and line width at low temperatures. Our results provide evidence that both Np(V) and Np(IV) valences are present, where the latter may be a minority population. The crystals, although dark in appearance, are electrically insulating (ρ>1010 Ωcm) at room temperature.