The Effect of Ce Dilution on the Ferromagnetic Ordering in CeAuGe

B.M. Sondezi and A.M. Strydom Highly Correlated Matter Research Group, Physics Department, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

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Transport and thermodynamic properties of the well-ordered hexagonal CeAuGe compound have been studied. This compound is known to order ferromagnetically at TC = 10 K with well-defined anomalies in magnetic susceptibility χ(T), electrical resistivity ρ(T) and specific heat Cp(T) characterising the phase transition. The location of TC has been observed to be unstable and enhanced even in moderate applied magnetic fields. However, the dilution of magnetic species, Ce, with the non-f electron element, La, is shown in this work to achieve a continuous suppression of TC to 0 K. The integrity of the space group and the details of the unit cell occupation are retained throughout the substitution series, as is the high-temperature localized Ce-effective magnetic moment μeff = 2.54 μB/(mol Ce). Our studies of physical properties down to 0.05 K show a quantum critical form: of non-Fermi liquid behaviour, characterised by a logarithmic divergence in Cp(T)/T data in the very dilute Ce content.

DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.127.228 PACS numbers: 75.30.Cr, 75.30.Kz, 75.30.Mb