Abstract
Low temperature heat capacity and resistivity measurements indicated that LaCd2 is a low temperature superconductor (Tc = 1.44 K). It is a conventional weak-coupling superconductor with a coupling constant λ ≈ 0.47. The electronic specific heat coefficient γ (8.0 mJ mol−1 K−2) and Debye temperature ΘD (186 K) were determined from heat capacity data. The covalent bonding in LaCd2 is probably responsible for preventing the softening of the phonon spectrum, which probably accounts for the low Tc value. LaCd2 is the first superconducting intermetallic compound that has the CeCd2-type structure. However, compared with the lanthanum Laves phase compound superconductors, the structural difference may be insignificant in determining the superconducting properties.
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