Specific heat measurements and structural investigation of CeCu6 - xSnx compounds

International audienceThe evolution of the crystal structure and some magnetic properties of the heavy-fermion material CeCu6 - xSnx (x = 0, 0.25, 0.65, 0.75, 0.85 and 1.0) has been studied by powder neutron diffraction and by specific heat measurements. The substitution of Cu by Sn suppresses the temperature induced orthorhombic to monoclinic transition, known to occur in the pure CeCu6 phase. No structural phase transition has been observed in these samples as a function of x but the cell volume increases considerably in an anisotropic way. Sn occupies preferentially the special Cu crystallographic site which is next to each of the four Ce atoms in the unit cell. The transition to antiferromagnetic order, characterizing the samples with higher x, is sensitive to both x and magnetic field. The results are discussed in the context of the competition between Kondo and RKKY interactions in disordered or not heavy-fermion systems and reveal an interesting interplay between composition, structure and magnetism in CeCu6 - xSnx

A New Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeIrIn5: Relative of the Cuprates?

CeIrIn5 is a member of a new family of heavy-fermion compounds and has a Sommerfeld specific heat coefficient of 720 mJ/mol-K2. It exhibits a bulk, thermodynamic transition to a superconducting state at Tc=0.40 K, below which the specific heat decreases as T2 to a small residual T-linear value. Surprisingly, the electrical resistivity drops below instrumental resolution at a much higher temperature T0=1.2 K. These behaviors are highly reproducible and field-dependent studies indicate that T0 and Tc arise from the same underlying electronic structure. The layered crystal structure of CeIrIn5 suggests a possible analogy to the cuprates in which spin/charge pair correlations develop well above Tc

Magnetic structure of CeRhIn_5 as a function of pressure and temperature

We report magnetic neutron-diffraction and electrical resistivity studies on single crystals of the heavy-fermion antiferromagnet CeRhIn$_{5}$ at pressures up to 2.3 GPa. These experiments show that the staggered moment of Ce and the incommensurate magnetic structure change weakly with applied pressure up to 1.63 GPa, where resistivity, specific heat and NQR measurements confirm the presence of bulk superconductivity. This work places new constraints on an interpretation of the relationship between antiferromagnetism and unconventional superconductivity in CeRhIn$_{5}$.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Anomalous NMR Magnetic Shifts in CeCoIn_5

We report ^{115}In and ^{59}Co Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) measurements in the heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn_5 above and below T_c. The hyperfine couplings of the In and Co are anisotropic and exhibit dramatic changes below 50K due to changes in the crystal field level populations of the Ce ions. Below T_c the spin susceptibility is suppressed, indicating singlet pairing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

An Experimental and Theoretical Study of the Variation of 4f Hybridization Across the La1-xCexIn3 Series

Crystal structures of a series of La1-xCexIn3 (x = 0.02, 0.2, 0.5, or 0.8) intermetallic compounds have been investigated by both neutron and X-ray diffraction, and their physical properties have been characterized by magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements. Our results emphasize atypical atomic displacement parameters (ADP) for the In and the rare-earth sites. Depending on the x value, the In ADP presents either an "ellipsoidal" elongation (La-rich compounds) or a "butterfly-like" distortion (Ce-rich compounds). These deformations have been understood by theoretical techniques based on the band theory and are the result of hybridization between conduction electrons and 4f-electrons.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Magnetic Structure of Heavy Fermion Ce2RhIn8

Magnetic structure of the heavy fermion antiferromagnet Ce2RhIn8 is determined using neutron diffraction.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity in CeRh1-xIrxIn5

We report a thermodynamic and transport study of the phase diagram of CeRh1-xIrxIn5. Superconductivity is observed over a broad range of doping, 0.3 < x < 1, including a substantial range of concentration (0.3 < x <0.6) over which it coexists with magnetic order (which is observed for 0 < x < 0.6). The anomalous transition to zero resistance that is observed in CeIrIn5 is robust against Rh substitution. In fact, the observed bulk Tc in CeRh0.5Ir0.5In5 is more than double that of CeIrIn5, whereas the zero-resistance transition temperature is relatively unchanged for 0.5 < x < 1

Magnetic field dependence of low temperature specific heat of spinel oxide superconductor LiTi_2O_4

Magnetic field dependence of low temperature specific heat of spinel oxide superconductor LiTi_2O_4 has been elaborately investigated. In the normal state, the obtained electronic coefficient of specific heat gamma_n = 19.15 mJ/mol K2, the Debye temperature is 657 K and some other parameters are compared with those reported earlier. The superconducting transition at Tc ~ 11.4 K is very sharp (DeltaTc ~ 0.3 K) and the estimated delataC/gamma_nTc is ~ 1.78. In the superconducting state, the best fit of data leads to the electronic specific heat C_es/Gamma_nTc = 9.87 exp (-1.58 Tc/T) without field and gamma(H) ~ H^0.95 with fields. In addition, Hc2(0) ~ 11.7 T, Hc(0) ~ 0.32 T, xi_GL(0) ~ 5.5 nm, lambda_GL(0) ~ 160 nm, and Hc1(0) ~ 26 mT are estimated from Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg (WHH) theory or other relevant relations. All results from the present study indicate that LiTi2O4 can be well described by a typical type-II, BCS-like, moderate coupling, and fully gapped superconductor in the dirty limit. It is further suggested that LiTi2O4 is a moderately electron-electron correlated system.Comment: 6 pages, 2 tables, 6 figures; Physical Review B, in pres

Heat capacity studies of Ce and Rh site substitution in the heavy fermion antiferromagnet CeRhIn_5;: Short-range magnetic interactions and non-Fermi-liquid behavior

In heavy fermion materials superconductivity tends to appear when long range magnetic order is suppressed by chemical doping or applying pressure. Here we report heat capacity measurements on diluted alloyes of the heavy fermion superconductor CeRhIn_5;. Heat capacity measurements have been performed on CeRh_{1-y}Ir_{y}In_5; (y <= 0.10) and Ce_{1-x}La_{x}Rh_{1-y}Ir_{y}In_5; (x <= 0.50) in applied fields up to 90 kOe to study the affect of doping and magnetic field on the magnetic ground state. The magnetic phase diagram of CeRh_{0.9}Ir_{0.1}In_5; is consistent with the magnetic structure of CeRhIn_5; being unchanged by Ir doping. Doping of Ir in small concentrations is shown to slightly increase the antiferromagnetic transition temperature T_{N} (T_{N}=3.8 K in the undoped sample). La doping which causes disorder on the Ce sublattice is shown to lower T_{N} with no long range order observed above 0.34 K for Ce_{0.50}La_{0.50}RhIn_5;. Measurements on Ce_{0.50}La_{0.50}RhIn_5; show a coexistence of short range magnetic order and non-Fermi-liquid behavior. This dual nature of the Ce 4f-electrons is very similar to the observed results on CeRhIn_5; when long range magnetic order is suppressed at high pressure.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure