Electronic structure and magnetism of RPdIn compounds (R=La, Ce, Pr, Nd)

RPdIn (R = La–Nd) compounds were studied by means of magnetic susceptibility, specific heat and photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. The results prove that CePdIn is an antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice with TNTN below 1.7 K. The Pr-based indide remains paramagnetic down to 1.7 K, and the lack of any magnetic ordering may be due to the presence of a singlet as the crystalline electric field ground state or/and strong hybridization between Pr 4f states and Pd 4d states. In turn, NdPdIn exhibits ferromagnetism below about 26 K. In contrast to CePdIn, for the Pr- and Nd-based compounds any significant enhancement of the electronic specific heat coefficient was observed.