Competing magnetic interactions and spin-glass-like behavior in PrCoRuSi₂

The results of dc magnetization, ac susceptibility, magnetic relaxation, specific heat and electrical resistivity measurements on PrCoRuSi₂, an amalgamation of the ferromagnetic compound PrRu₂Si₂ and the antiferromagnetic compound PrCo₂Si₂ crystallizing in the same tetragonal ThCr₂Si₂-type structure, are reported. The data for this sample reveal spin-glass-like anomalies at the temperature T₀=15K where long-range magnetic ordering sets in. Below T ₀, the observed irreversible magnetism, the long-time magnetic relaxation effect as well as the evident upward-shift of the peak temperature of ac susceptibility with increasing frequency are considered to originate, at least partly, from spin-glass-like magnetic frustration due to the competing magnetic interactions.