Rotationally Invariant Theory for the Effect of Magnetoelastic Interactions on the Elastic Constants of the Heavy-Rare-Earth Metals

A theory developed by Toupin, Tiersten, Brown, and Melcher employing finite strains and angular-momentum invariants is applied to the rare-earth metals of hcp structure. A Hamiltonian is written down which includes Heisenberg-exchange, crystal field, and magnetoelastic terms and is invariant under combined rotations of the magnetic and elastic systems. When the approximations of small-strain theory are subsequently carried out, there appear new terms originating in the crystal field that are linear in the antisymmetric strains ω_μν and correspond to rotations of the elastic medium. The coupling of transverse acoustic waves to the magnetic system is studied and expressions are derived for the dependence of the elastic constants c₄₄ and c₆₆ on an applied magnetic field in the ferromagnetic phase. The terms involving the antisymmetric strains result in new effects similar to those found by Melcher in MnF₂, from which it should be possible to obtain in a direct manner the values of certain magnetoelastic constants and anisotropy constants. Using available data on magnetic anisotropy and magnetostriction, we have estimated the size of the effects that may be expected to be found in Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, and Er. Fractional changes in c₄₄ and c₆₆ as large as 10^-2 are predicted for Tb, Dy, Ho, and Er in a field of about 50 kOe, while the maximum change for Gd is predicted to be about 10^-4. Calculations have also been performed for the field-dependent changes in c₁₁ and c₃₃ for longitudinal waves in the paramagnetic region. These changes result from the fact that the finite strains E_μμ include terms of the form ε_μμ². The resulting changes in c₁₁ and c₃₃ depend linearly on the magnetoelastic constants and vary as H² in the paramagnetic region. Estimates of certain combinations of these constants are made from the experimental measurements of Moran and L\"uthi on Dy and Ho.