Ni-doping effect on the magnetic transition and correlated lattice contraction in antiperovskite Mn3ZnN compounds

The Ni-doping effect on the lattice and magnetic properties in Mn3Zn1−xNixN was first reported. The ground-state magnetic structure for Mn3ZnN is noncollinear antiferromagnetic Γ 5 g . The introduction of Ni-doping induces a continuous spin rotation in the (111) plane from Γ 5 g to weak ferromagnetic Γ 4 g configurations, exhibiting a change from antiferromagnetic to weak ferromagnetic with increasing Ni content. In particular, when Ni content increased to x ≥ 0.5 , Mn3Zn1−xNixN shows an abrupt lattice contraction near the magnetic transition with increasing temperature. The normal–abnormal lattice variation in Mn3Zn1−xNixN is explained by the competition between the negative free energy variation δ F e and the positive δ F 0 .