Magnetic, thermal, and transport properties of single-crystalline U3Fe4Ge4


Magnetic, thermal, and transport properties of single-crystalline U3Fe4Ge4

Henriques, M. S.; Gorbunov, D. I.; Waerenborgh, J. C.; Havela, L.; Andreev, A. V.; Skourski, Y.; Gonçalves, A. P.

Magnetic, thermal, and transport properties of a U3Fe4Ge4 single crystal have been studied. The compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic Gd3Cu4Ge4 structure type. U3Fe4Ge4 displays ferromagnetic order below the Curie temperature TC = 18 K. The magnetism originates from the uranium sublattice, as iron atoms have no ordered magnetic moments. U3Fe4Ge4 exhibits a pronounced easy-axis anisotropy with the anisotropy field exceeding 60 T. The spontaneous magnetic moment is Ms = 1.2 µB/f.u. at T = 2 K. Magnetic contribution to specific heat shows a gap excitation behavior with D = 4 meV, which can be related to the magnon gap due to the anisotropy. The Sommerfeld coefficient of the electronic specific heat is \gamma = 57 mJ/(mol-U K2) in the ordered state, whereas it is much higher (145 mJ/(mol-U K2) if derived from the paramagnetic state. Electrical resistivity has very high values on the mΩ cm range.

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Publ.-Id: 19388