Polarized neutron diffraction study of CePd 3

Abstract

We have performed polarized neutron diffraction measurements on the intermediate valence compound CePd 3 using the D3 spectrometer at the ILL. The results show that at low temperatures, 1.7 K , as well as at 100 K , the field-induced magnetic amplitudes measured in a field of 4.6 T could be interpreted in terms of two contributions: a 4 f-type contribution with a Ce 3+ form factor, and an extra delocalized contribution (relatively narrow in q-extent). In particular, we find that the values of the 4 f moment deduced from the extrapolation of the neutron data to Q=0 are systematically lower than the values deduced from bulk magnetization measurements performed on the same sample. This difference can be ascribed to a possible positive polarization of the conduction band which is similar at both temperatures.