Abstract
High-pressure x-ray diffraction studies on the magnetically orderingheavy-fermion superconductors UM2Al3 (M = Pd, Ni) havebeen performed. For UNi2Al3 only a smooth reduction of thepressure dependence of the unit-cell volume was observed. In thecase of UPd2Al3 a structural phase transition takes placearound p≈25 GPa from the high-symmetry hexagonalPrNi2Al3-type low-pressure structure into a low-symmetryorthorhombic high-pressure phase. The new phase is characterized byspace group Pmmm and closely related to the PrNi2Al3structure at ambient pressure. Its compressibility is about twicethat of the low-pressure phase. The remarkable high-pressurebehaviour is discussed with respect to an electronic transitionrelated to the structural high-pressure phase transition.
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