Intermediate valence behavior in CeCo9Si4

The novel ternary compound CeCo$_9$Si$_4$ has been studied by means of specific heat, magnetisation, and transport measurements. Single crystal X-ray Rietveld refinements reveal a fully ordered distribution of Ce, Co and Si atoms with the tetragonal space group I4/mcm isostructural with other RCo9Si4. The smaller lattice constants of CeCo9Si4 in comparison with the trend established by other RCo9Si4 is indicative for intermediate valence of cerium. While RCo9Si4 with R= Pr, .. Tb, and Y show ferromagnetism and LaCo9Si4 is nearly ferromagnetic, CeCo9Si4 remains paramagnetic even in external fields as large as 40 T, though its electronic specific heat coefficient (g~190 mJ/molK^2) is of similar magnitude as that of metamagnetic LaCo9Si4 and weakly ferromagnetic YCo9Si4.Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures, submitted to SCES 0

Superconductivity in novel Ge-based skutterudites: {Sr,Ba}Pt_4Ge_{12}

Combining experiments and ab initio models we report on $\rm SrPt_4Ge_{12}$ and $\rm BaPt_4Ge_{12}$ as members of a novel class of superconducting skutterudites, where Sr or Ba atoms stabilize a framework entirely formed by Ge-atoms. Below $T_c=5.35$ K, and 5.10 K for $\rm BaPt_4Ge_{12}$ and $\rm SrPt_4Ge_{12}$, respectively, electron-phonon coupled superconductivity emerges, ascribed to intrinsic features of the Pt-Ge framework, where Ge-$p$ states dominate the electronic structure at the Fermi energy.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in PR

Heavy fermion superconductivity and magnetic order in non-centrosymmetric CePt3SiCePt_3Si

$\rm CePt_3Si$ is a novel heavy fermion superconductor, crystallising in the $\rm CePt_3B$ structure as a tetragonally distorted low symmetry variant of the $\rm AuCu_3$ structure type. $\rm CePt_3Si$ exhibits antiferromagnetic order at $T_N \approx 2.2$ K and enters into a heavy fermion superconducting state at $T_c \approx 0.75$ K. Large values of $H_{c2}' \approx -8.5$ T/K and $H_{c2}(0) \approx 5$ T refer to heavy quasiparticles forming Cooper pairs. Hitherto, $\rm CePt_3Si$ is the first heavy fermion superconductor without a center of symmetry.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Heavy Fermion Behavior, Crystalline Electric Field Effects, and Weak Ferromagnetism in SmOs_{4}Sb_{12}

The filled skutterudite compound SmOs_{4}Sb_{12} was prepared in single crystal form and characterized. The SmOs_{4}Sb_{12} crystals have the LaFe_{4}P_{12}-type structure with lattice parameter a = 9.3085 Angstroms. Specific heat measurements indicate a large electronic specific heat coefficient of ~880 mJ/mol K^{2}, from which an enhanced effective mass m^{*} ~ 170 m_{e} is estimated. The specific heat data also suggest crystalline electric field (CEF) splitting of the Sm^{3+} J = 5/2 multiplet into a Gamma_{7} doublet ground state and a Gamma_{8} quartet excited state separated by 37 K. Electrical resistivity rho(T) measurements reveal a decrease in rho(T) below ~50 K that is consistent with CEF splitting of ~33 K between a Gamma_(7) doublet ground state and Gamma_{8} quartet excited state. Specific heat and magnetic susceptibility measurements display a possible weak ferromagnetic transition at ~2.6 K, which could be an intrinsic property of SmOs_4Sb_{12} or possibly due to an unknown impurity phase.Comment: 24 pages, 11 Postscript figures, to be published in Physical Review

A new polymorphic material? Structural degeneracy of ZrMn_2

Based on density functional calculations, we propose that ZrMn_2 is a polymorphic material. We predict that at low temperatures the cubic C15, and the hexagonal C14 and C36 structures of the Laves phase compound ZrMn_2 are nearly equally stable within 0.3 kJmol^{-1} or 30 K. This degeneracy occurs when the Mn atoms magnetize spontaneously in a ferromagnetic arrangement forming the states of lowest energy. From the temperature dependent free energies at T approx 160K we predict a transition from the most stable C15 to the C14 structure, which is the experimentally observed structure at elevated temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure