Heavy fermion behavior in Cu 3Au-structure compounds: CePb 3 and U(In,Sn) 3

Abstract

The recent discovery of anomalous properties associated with extremely narrow f-band character in the electronic density of states in the vicinity of the Fermi energy has stimulated considerable interest in these systems. Some particularly exciting recent discoveries have emerged from studies of the magnetic and electronic properties of cerium- and uranium-based Cu 3Au intermetallic compounds which form with group IIIB and group IVB elements. It has been reported that CePb 3 is a heavy fermion antiferromagnetic system with a Néel temperature of 1.1K. In addition, this system displays field-induced superconductivity for magnetic fields greater than 15 T and temperatures below 0.5K. Studies of (Ce,La)Pb 3 clearly indicate that the heavy fermion behavior reported for this system is primarily a reflection of single-ion Kondo behavior. In addition, studies of U(In,Sn) 3 and Ce(In,Sn) 3 explicitly indicate that the heavy fermion and mixed-valent behavior reported for these systems are a result of a similar hybridization-driven mechanism. The CeX 3 and UX 3 systems where X is a group IIIB or group IVB element display many of the features of current interest to magnetic moment formation and allow a unique opportunity to study these phenomena systematically.