Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8160983 | Physica B: Condensed Matter | 2018 | 17 Pages |
Abstract
PrCo2Ga8 is an orthorhombic quasi-skutterudite type compound which crystallizes in the CaCo2Al8 structure type, with space group Pbam (No. 55). The Pr3+ ion has a site symmetry of Cs which predicts a crystal electric field (CEF) level splitting into 9 singlets for J = 4. However, a phase transition at Tm = 1.28 K is observed in electrical resistivity and specific heat results and is reported in this paper. The electrical resistivity shows an upturn below Tm due to the superzone-gap formation. This transition is tuneable in fields and is suppressed to lower temperatures with applied magnetic fields. The electronic specific heat Cp(T)/T increases below Tm and reaches a value of 7.37 J/(mol K2) at 0.4 K. The Sommerfeld coefficient, γ extracted from the low temperature analysis of C4f(T)/T is 637 mJ/(mol K2) indicating a possible mass enhancement of the quasiparticles. The calculated entropy value of 3.05 J/(mol K) is recovered around Tm exhibiting almost 53% of Rln2, where R is the universal gas constant. Magnetic susceptibility results obeys the Curie-Weiss law for data above 100 K with an estimated effective magnetic moment, μeï¬Â = 3.37 μB/Pr and Weiss temperature, θp = â124 K.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Physics and Astronomy
Condensed Matter Physics
Authors
Michael O. Ogunbunmi, Buyisiwe M. Sondezi, Harikrishnan S. Nair, André M. Strydom,