Investigation of 4f-magnetism in CeNi 2P 2, EuNi 2P 2 and YbNi 2P 2 by susceptibility and NMR studies

Abstract

The results of 31P NMR Knight shift (KS) and spin-lattice relaxation time (T 1) as well as magnetic susceptibility ( ξ) measurements in the temperature interval 4.2–300K are reported for the compounds RENi 2 P 2( RE = Ce, Eu and Yb) in order to understand the nature of the 41 magnetism in these compounds. The KS results conclusively establish that all these compounds exhibit non-magnetic ground states. There is a low-temperature upturn in ξ for CeNi 2P 2 and YbNi 2P 2 presumably due to magnetic impurities. The estimated spin fluctuation temperatures (T sf) for EuNi 2P 2 above 50K agree qualitatively with those obtained earlier from Mössbauer and ξ data employing ionic interconfigurational fluctuation model, but seem to disagree at low temperatures. Implications of this result are discussed.