Eur. Phys. J. B 2, 169-176 (1998)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050237

Transport and thermodynamic properties of CeAuAl₃

Laboratorium für Festkörperphysik, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule-Hönggerberg, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland

Corresponding author: ^a ott@solid.phys.ethz.ch

Received: 6 November 1997
Accepted: 17 November 1997
Published online: 15 March 1998

Abstract

We present measurements of the specific heat, the electrical resistivity, the Hall effect, and the magnetic susceptibility of , a new heavy–electron compound that crystallizes in an ordered derivative of the tetragonal BaAl₄–type structure. For comparison we have also done some of these measurements on the isostructural non–magnetic reference compound , which appears to be a simple metal. Below T_N=1.32K, orders antiferromagnetically and below 1 K, we encounter Fermi liquid behaviour with considerably enhanced effective masses, i.e., a quadratic temperature dependence of the resistivity with a large prefactor and a sizable linear–in–T contribution to the specific heat. This linear–in–T contribution increases by more than a factor 50 from its value at T››T_N to its value at T‹T_N. Consequently develops a heavy–electron ground state, coexisting with antiferromagnetic order. The small energy scales involved in the problem make a good candidate for tuning it, by varying external parameters, towards a quantum critical point. At high temperatures we observe local moment behaviour. From the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility and the specific heat we have derived the crystalline–electric–field–split level scheme of the J=5/2 multiplet. Distinct features in the electrical resistivity provide additional evidence for this level splitting.