New room-temperature ferromagnet: B-added Pd^sub 0.75^Mn^sub 0.25^ alloy

Mn-based room-temperature ferromagnets attract considerable attention due to their high ordered Mn moment. We have found that a Pd0.75Mn0.25 alloy with added B (Pd0.75Mn0.25Bx) shows room-temperature soft ferromagnetism, whereas the parent Pd0.75Mn0.25 alloy is a spin-glass system. The saturated Mn moment at room temperature systematically increases to 2.68μB/Mn as x increases to 0.125. The maximum Curie temperature of 390 K is also realized at an x of 0.125. The experimental results suggest a tunable soft ferromagnetism, which is governed only by the boron concentration. Our results will pave the way in chemical control of room-temperature bulk ferromagnetism in Mn compounds based on the addition of an atom with a small atomic radius.