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Hidden magnetic complexity in the simple van der Waals ferromagnet Ce2Te5

Rajesh Tripathi1,2,3,*, D. T. Adroja1,4,†, C. Ritter5,‡, Leandro Liborio6, Manuel dos Santos Dias7, Leon Petit7, D. Khalyavin1, Yu Liu8, T. Shiroka9 et al.

M. Aouane1,10, S. Langridge1, S. Patil3, and Eric D. Bauer8

  • *Contact author: raj7tpi@gmail.com
  • †Contact author: devashibhai.adroja@stfc.ac.uk
  • ‡Contact author: ritter@ill.fr
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Phys. Rev. Materials 10, 104407 – Published 13 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qbm7-4gh3

Abstract

Ce2Te5 is a layered f-electron van der Waals magnet in which reduced dimensionality and inequivalent Ce sites give rise to competing magnetic interactions. We investigate its magnetic ground state using muon spin relaxation (μSR), neutron powder diffraction (NPD), and inelastic neutron scattering (INS). Zero-field μSR reveals an onset of static magnetism below TC=5.0(1)K, followed by an additional anomaly in the internal field at T2=2.3(2)K, consistent with features observed in bulk thermodynamic and transport measurements. In contrast, NPD data collected between 0.05–8K reveal a single long-range ordered magnetic phase below TC, with the magnetic Bragg intensities vanishing at TC with no evidence for additional structural or magnetic phase transitions down to base temperature. The ordered state is characterized by a commensurate propagation vector k=(0,0,0) and ferromagnetic alignment of Ce moments along the crystallographic b axis. Remarkably, only one of the two crystallographically distinct Ce sites carries an ordered moment of ≈0.85(3)μB per Ce at 0.05 K. INS measurements establish the crystal-electric-field (CEF) energy scale of Ce3+, revealing low-lying excitations at 7.94 and 21.46 meV and a Kramers-doublet ground state with strong single-ion anisotropy. These results demonstrate that Ce2Te5 undergoes a single symmetry-breaking magnetic transition, while additional low-temperature anomalies reflect subtle modifications of the ordered state driven by competing interactions and CEF effects.

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Phys. Rev. Materials 10, 104407– Published 13 October, 2026
  • Received 6 July 2026
  • Accepted 9 September 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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