Low temperature magnetic phase diagram of the cubic non-Fermi liquid system Celn(3-x)Sn(x)

Abstract

In this paper we report a comprehensive study of the magnetic susceptibility (X), resistivity (ρ), and specific heat (Cp), down to 0.5 K of the cubic CeIn3-x Sn x alloy. The ground state of this system evolves from antiferromagnetic (AF) in CeIn3 (TN=10.2K) to intermediate-valent in CeSn3, and represents the first example of a Ce-lattice cubic non-Fermi liquid (NFL) system where TN (x) can be traced down to T = 0 over more than a decade of temperature. Our results indicate that the disappearance of the AF state occurs near xc≈0.7, although already at x≈0.4 significant modifications of the magnetic ground state are observed. Between these concentrations, clear NFL signatures are observed, such as ρ(T) ≈ ρ0 + ATn (with n < 1.5) and Cp (T)α‒ Tln (T) dependencies. Within the ordered phase a first order phase transition occurs for 0.25 < x < 0.5. With larger Sn doping, different weak ρ(T) dependencies are observed at low temperatures between x = 1 and x = 3 while Cp/T shows only a weak temperature dependence.