{"term":{"id":"03690","title":"magnetic transition","longtitle":"IUPAC Gold Book - magnetic transition","doi":"10.1351\/goldbook.M03690","code":"M03690","status":"current","definitions":[{"id":1,"text":"A transition between disordered and ordered arrays of atomic magnetic moments. Where the ordered phase has a net spontaneous magnetization, \\(M_{\\rm{S}}\\), the magnetic-ordering temperature is called a curie temperature, \\(T_{\\rm{C}}\\); where the net spontaneous magnetization of the ordered phase remains zero, the ordering temperature is called a Néel temperature, \\(T_{\\rm{N}}\\). The temperature at which the two ferromagnetic subarrays of a ferrimagnet just cancel each other is called the compensation point. Materials exhibit ferromagnetic behaviour when unpaired electron spins are aligned in parallel, antiferromagnetic behaviour when the alignment is antiparallel, and ferrimagnetic behaviour if the alignment of the spins is antiparallel with unequal numbers in the two orientations or if the spins are canted. Therefore, ferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic and weak ferromagnetic transitions involve a net magnetic moment change, whereas antiferromagnetic transitions have zero net magnetic moment change.","notes":{"1":"Antiferromagnetic order below \\(T_{\\rm{N}}\\) may be complex; for example, canting of spins as in $\\ce{GdFeO3}$, spiral-spin configuration as may occur in $\\ce{MnO2}$, and amplitude modulation, as in some rare-earth metals."},"links":[{"term":"antiferromagnetic","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/A00393"},{"term":"curie","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/C01444"},{"term":"ferrimagnetic","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/F02344"},{"term":"ferromagnetic","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/F02349"}],"sources":["PAC, 1994, 66, 577. 'Definitions of terms relating to phase transitions of the solid state (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)' on page 585 (https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1351\/pac199466030577)"]}],"altoutputs":{"html":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/M03690\/html","xml":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/M03690\/xml","plain":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/M03690\/plain"},"citation":"Citation: 'magnetic transition' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351\/goldbook.M03690","license":"The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/) for individual terms.","collection":"If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .","disclaimer":"The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.","accessed":"2026-08-09T16:33:28+00:00"}}