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High-field specific heat of CeCu/sub 2/Si/sub 2/ and CeAl/sub 3/

Journal Article · · Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States)
We have measured the low-temperature specific heat, C, of both a superconducting and a nonsuperconducting sample of CeCu/sub 2/Si/sub 2/, as well as a sample of CeAl/sub 3/, in fields to 23 T. Contrary to all our previous C(H) work on nonsuperconducting Ce-based heavy-fermion systems (HFS's), the superconducting CeCu/sub 2.2/Si/sub 2/ sample has a small response to field, similar to the results for the other heavy-fermion superconductors UPt/sub 3/ and UBe/sub 13/. Thus, the previous correlation that U-based HFS's have small changes of C with field and that Ce-based HFS's have large changes must be discarded. We attempt to correlate other measured properties with our C(H) data for all HFS's for which such data exist, a total of seven systems, with only limited success. The possibility of a hidden variable linking the lack of large changes in C in 23 T with the occurrence of superconductivity in HFS's is discussed.
Research Organization:
Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611
OSTI ID:
6361284
Journal Information:
Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States) Vol. 39:10; ISSN PRBMD
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English