X-ray resonant magnetic study of CePtSn

The antiferromagnetic ground state of the equiatomic ternary intermetallic compound CePtSn was studied by means of X-ray resonant magnetic scattering. The Ce L2L2 edge signal shows that below the Néel temperature (∼7.5∼7.5  K) an incommensurate magnetic structure with the propagation vector q1 varying monotonously between (0 0.415 0) at TNTN and (0 0.417 0) at 5.0 K is present. At TM=5TM=5  K, the magnetic propagation vector locks in, and an additional Fourier component develops at q2=(0   0.47   0). Polarization analysis was used to determine the direction of the ordered Ce moments. Near the Pt L3L3 edge, only non-resonant scattering could be observed, suggesting the induced moment at the Pt site to be negligible, as also indicated by band structure calculations.