Tunable magnetism in rare-earth nitride solid solutions

Recent attempts to cation-substitute the rare-earth nitrides have led to the ability to tune their magnetism. This supports attempts to avail them in low-temperature electronics, as there is a versatility associated with the control of such parameters as the saturation magnetisation and the coercive field. Moreover, XMCD measurements elucidate the mechanism by which the magnetisation can be controlled and this suggests the existence of compositions at which the magnetisation and the angular momentum can be compensated (pushed to zero as a function of composition).

In this talk I will discuss the early measurements of Gd$_x$Sm_{1-x}$N and how they show these properties, how one can locate the compensation points using lab-based techniques, and the devices the one can build for low temperature electronics using this tunability.