We have performed resonant X-ray diffraction experiments on the antiferromagnet GdRu2Al10 and have clarified that the magnetic structure in the ordered state is cycloidal with the moments lying in the bc-plane and propagating along the b-axis. The propagation vector shows a similar temperature dependence to the magnetic order parameter, which can be interpreted as being associated with the gap opening in the conduction band and the resultant change in the magnetic exchange interaction. Although the S = 7/2 state of Gd is almost isotropic, the moments show slight preferential ordering along the b-axis. The c-axis component in the cycloid develops with decreasing temperature through a tiny transition in the ordered phase. We also show that the scattering involves the σ–σ′ process, which is forbidden in normal E1–E1 resonance of magnetic dipole origin. We discuss the possibility of the E1–E2 resonance originating from a toroidal moment due to the lack of inversion symmetry at the Gd site. The spin-flop transition in a magnetic field is also described in detail.

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 15K05175. The synchrotron experiments were performed under the approval of the Photon Factory Program Advisory Committee (No. 2014G-129 and No. 2016G-159).