Study of hyperfine interactions in the intermetallic compound CePd2Si2 using PAC technique with 111Cd as probe nuclei

Abstract

Perturbed γ–γ angular correlation spectroscopy (PAC) has been used to investigate the hyperfine interactions in the intermetallic compound CePd2Si2 using 111In→ 111Cd probe nuclei. Samples of CePd2Si2 were prepared by melting constituent elements in an arc furnace under pure argon atmosphere. Carrier-free 111In nuclei were introduced into the samples by thermal diffusion at 800°C in vacuum during 12 h. The measurements were performed in the temperature range of 4.2–300 K. Above the magnetic transition temperature (T N =10 K), the results show two distinct and well defined quadrupole interactions that were assigned to probe nuclei occupying Ce and Si sites in the compound. The quadrupole frequencies were found to decrease linearly with increasing temperature. The PAC spectra taken below 10 K were analyzed with a model including combined electric quadrupole plus magnetic dipole interactions, from which the hyperfine magnetic field was determined.