Hybridization gap in Ce sub 3 Bi sub 4 Pt sub 3

Journal Article · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.42.6842· OSTI ID:6228962

Hundley, M F; Canfield, P C; Thompson, J D; Fisk, Z ^[1]; Lawrence, J M ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (USA)
2. Physics Department, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA (USA)

We present resistivity {rho}({ital T}), susceptibility {chi}({ital T}), and specific heat {ital C}({ital T}) data for Ce{sub 3}Bi{sub 4}Pt{sub 3}. The susceptibility exhibits a broad maximum centered near 80 K, typical of a somewhat-heavy-electron compound; were the material metallic, a linear coefficient of specific heat {gamma}=75 mJ/mol Ce K{sup 2} would be expected. However, the compound is InotR metallic, as indicated by its resistivity which rises to large values at low temperatures and exhibits activated behavior with an activation energy {Delta}/{ital k}{sub {ital B}}=35 K. By analogy to SmB{sub 6} and YbB{sub 12}, this energy gap arises from 4{ital f}-electron--conduction-electron hybridization. Due to the gap, electronic excitations are suppressed at low temperatures and the specific heat is smaller than in nonmagnetic La{sub 3}Bi{sub 4}Pt{sub 3}. Alloying with lanthanum ((Ce{sub 1{minus}{ital x}}La{sub {ital x}}){sub 3}Bi{sub 4}Pt{sub 3}) decreases the resistivity and increases the specific heat towards the value expected for the metallic case; i.e., for moderate alloying ({ital x}=0.07) the behavior is that of a moderately disordered heavy-electron metal. We argue that lattice periodicity is an essential requirement for the formation of the hybridization gap.

• OSTI ID: 6228962
• Journal Information: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; (USA), Journal Name: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; (USA) Vol. 42:10; ISSN PRBMD; ISSN 0163-1829
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360104* -- Metals & Alloys-- Physical Properties
ALLOYS
BISMUTH ALLOYS
CERIUM ALLOYS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ENERGY GAP
HYBRIDIZATION
LOW TEMPERATURE
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLATINUM ALLOYS
PLATINUM METAL ALLOYS
RARE EARTH ALLOYS
SPECIFIC HEAT
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES