Effects of interstitials on the transition metal sublattice anisotropy in YFe10.5Mo1.5Zx(Z=H, N; x≈1)

The effects of interstitial atoms in rare earth (R) intermetallic compounds are: strong increase in Curie temperature, weak increase of saturation magnetization and large influence in the crystalline electric field (CEF) at the R atom. These effects are more remarkable in carbide and nitride compounds than in hydrides. In this paper we will show that additional effects concerning the transition metals (T) occur. In YFe_10.5Mo_1.5, with ThMn₁₂-type structure, it is shown that the introduction of H or N leads, also to an increase of both the Curie temperature and Fe moment. The most remarkable effect is that whereas with hydrogen we observe an increase of the easy c-axis anisotropy, with nitrogen the anisotropy becomes easy plane.