Complex 4f-5d metamagnetism of Nd2ZnIrO6

The combination of strong spin-orbit coupling, itinerancy and correlations in 5d transition metal oxides produces a wealth of emergent electronic behavior with potential for new functional phases. The magnetism of the double perovskite Nd2ZnIrO6 combines the disparate characters of 4f and 5d electrons, making it a model system to study local-itinerant duality. We have synthesized single crystals of this material and discovered an unusual magnetic behavior. Both 4f and 5d sublattices order at 16.5 K. In an applied field, the material undergoes a series of pronounced metamagnetic transitions, at 3.5 or 5.0 T (depending on the field direction), at around 20 T, and 50 T. The compound lends itself particularly well to ion-specific studies of magnetism, which we have already used in a resonant x-ray scattering study of the 3.5/5.0 T transition. Here, we propose to use the unique microcoil XMCD setup at ID24 to efficiently characterize the evolution of the Nd and Ir magnetic states up to 30T.