The Ce electronic ground state in CeMn2Ge2 determined by 140Ce PAC spectroscopy and electronic structure calculations

In this work a search for a 4f Ce ground state in CeMn2Ge2 is performed based on results of magnetic hyperfine field (MHF) measurements made with time differential perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy on 140Ce isotope and with the aid of first-principles electronic structure calculations within the GGA+U framework. It was found that after tuning the Hubbard-like parameter Ueff within density-functional-theory in order to match for the observed MHF, the crystalline-field-split Γ6 state appears as the most probable ground state. It is also shown that Γ6 is in accordance with the known Kondo-lattice parameters in CeMn2Ge2.