Antiferromagnetism in semiconducting SrMn2Sb2 and BaMn2Sb2 single crystals

Crystals of SrMn2Sb2 and BaMn2Sb2 were grown using Sn flux and characterized by powder and single-crystal x-ray diffraction, respectively, and by single-crystal electrical resistivity rho, heat capacity C-p, and magnetic susceptibility chi measurements versus temperature T, and magnetization versus field M(H) isotherm measurements. SrMn2Sb2 adopts the trigonal CaAl2Si2-type structure whereas BaMn2Sb2 crystallizes in the tetragonal ThCr2Si2-type structure. The rho(T) data indicate semiconducting behaviors for both compounds with activation energies of greater than or similar to 0.35 eV for SrMn2Sb2 and 0.16 eV for BaMn2Sb2. The chi(T) and C-p(T) data reveal antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering at T-N = 110 K for SrMn2Sb2 and 450 K for BaMn2Sb2. The anisotropic chi(T <= T-N) data also show that the ordered moments in SrMn2Sb2 are aligned in the hexagonal ab plane whereas the ordered moments in BaMn2Sb2 are aligned collinearly along the tetragonal c axis. The ab-plane M(H) data for SrMn2Sb2 exhibit a continuous metamagnetic transition at low fields 0 < H less than or similar to 1 T, whereas BaMn2Sb2 exhibits no metamagnetic transitions up to 5.5 T. The chi(T) and C-p(T) data for SrMn2Sb2 and BaMn2Sb2 indicate strong dynamic short-range AFM correlations above their respective TN up to at least 900 K within a local-moment picture, corresponding to quasi-two-dimensional magnetic behavior. The present results and a survey of the literature for Mn pnictides with the CaAl2Si2 and ThCr2Si2 crystal structures show that the T-N values for the CaAl2Si2-type compounds are much smaller than those for the ThCr2Si2-type materials.