Evolution of a magnetic order in the quasi-kagome lattice system CeRh1–xPdxSn (x ≤ 0.75)

Abstract

The equiatomic compound CeRhSn with a quasi-kagome lattice of Ce atoms displays a non-Fermi liquid behavior at low temperatures. We have studied how the ground state changes with the substitution of Pd for Rh in CeRh1–xPdxSn (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.75) by measuring the specific heat C, magnetic susceptibility χ, and magnetization M. With increasing x, the lattice parameters a and c increase by 1.6%, the paramagnetic Curie temperature in χ(T) changes from –112 K to 16 K, and M(B = 5 T) at T = 1.8 K increases from 0.05μB/Ce to 1.4μB/Ce. A long-range magnetic order manifests in sharp peaks in C at 0.7, 1.0 and 1.5 K for x = 0.4, 0.5 and 0.65, respectively. An antiferromagnetic order for x = 0.75 is indicated by the observations of peaks in both χ(T) and C(T) at around 3.0 K and metamagnetic behavior in M(B) at B = 2 T. Our results point out that the doping of 4d electrons in the non-Fermi liquid system CeRhSn destroys the coherence of the quasi-kagome lattice and weakens the hybridization between the 4f state and conduction bands, leading to the evolution of antiferromagnetic order.