Abstract
This paper presents the results of a high pressure study on the ferrimagnetic compound ErCo2, which exhibits at ambient pressure magnetic ordering below T-C = 33 K, where the localized Er magnetic moments order ferromagnetically, and the itinerant moments in the Co sublattice, align antiparallel to the Er moments. In the paramagnetic range, clustering of the Co moments is observed below T-f similar to 100 K for which the term "parimagnetism" has been proposed.
In contrast to the pronounced peak in the AC susceptibility data at T-C only a tiny "bump" shows up at T-f. The decrease of both T-C and T-f with applied hydrostatic pressure has been observed, the first one being in agreement with previously published data.
At higher pressures, an asymmetry in the T-C-related AC susceptibility peak has been observed owing to a decoupling of the magnetic ordering phenomena in the Er and Co sublattices. Compared to earlier published results, our magnetization measurements at higher pressures above PC reveal a small but clearly observable evolution of both the critical temperature and saturated magnetization.