Crystal field studies on the heavy fermion compound CeNi$_8$CuGe$_4$

Autor: Peyker, L, Gold, C, Scheidt, E-W, Michor, H, Unruh, T, Senyshyn, A, Stockert, O, Scherer, W
Rok vydání: 2009
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Physics: Conference Series 200 (2010) 012160
Druh dokumentu: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/200/1/012160
Popis: Substitution of nickel by copper in the heavy fermion system CeNi$_{9-x}$Cu$_x$Ge$_4$ alters the local crystal field environment of the Ce$^{3+}$-ions. This leads to a quantum phase transition near $x\approx0.4$, which is not only driven by the competition between Kondo effect and RKKY interaction, but also by a reduction of an effectively fourfold to a twofold degenerate crystal field ground state. To study the consequences of a changing crystal field in CeNi$_8$CuGe$_4$ on its Kondo properties, inelastic neutron scattering (INS) experiments were performed. Two well-defined crystal field transitions were observed in the energy-loss spectra at 4 K. The crystal field level scheme determined by neutron spectroscopy is compared with results from specific heat measurements.
Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, conference SCES09
Databáze: arXiv