Structural and Physical Properties of the new Stannide Yb3Pd4Sn13

F. Gastaldo a, M. Giovanninia,b, A. Strydom c, R.F. Djoumessi c, I. Čurlík d, M. Reiffers d, P. Solokha a and A. Saccone a aDepartment of Chemistry, University of Genova, Via Dodecaneso 31, 15046, Genova, Italy bCNR-SPIN, Corso Ferdinando Maria Perrone 24, 16152, Genova, Italy cHighly Correlated Matter Research Group, Department of Physics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa dFaculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, University of Prešov, Prešov, Slovakia

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Among the new discovered intermetallics in the Yb-Pd-Sn system, the cubic phase Yb3Pd4Sn13, with a lattice parameter of 0.9743(5) nm, emerges as a new member of the R3T4Sn13 family (R = rare earth element, T = transition metal) crystallizing in the Yb3Rh4Sn13-structure type. The effective magnetic moment μeff=1.84 μB/Yb is strongly reduced. Moreover, measurements of magnetic properties, specific heat and resistivity indicate superconductivity below 2.4 K. This compound is found to exhibit a strongly enhanced electronic specific heat at low temperature from which we infer a possible low-lying magnetic phase transition or other source of magnetic entropy.

DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.131.1006 PACS numbers: 71.27.+a, 74.25.F-, 74.10.+v