Low temperature thermal expansion and specific heat of PrNi 5

Abstract

Experimental data on the low temperature thermal expansion coefficient α and specific heat c p of PrNi 5 between 1.5 and 12 K are presented. The thermal expansion is very anisotropic at these temperatures. At 12 K, α ‖ and α ⊥ are both of the order of 1.5 × 10 −5K −1, but of opposite sign. Both α and c p show anomalous behaviour below 10K and several possibilities of the nature of these anomalies are discussed.