2017/08/02 by Keiichiro Imura, Kohei Nobe, K. Deguchi +7 · 3 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Quasicrystal Structures and Properties #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #X-ray Diffraction in Crystallography
paper · doi:10.7566/jpsj.86.093702
Since the discovery of unconventional quantum criticality in the Au–Al–Yb quasicrystal and pressure-induced quantum criticality in its approximant, quasicrystals and approximants with an icosahedral cluster of atoms have attracted much attention. Here we report magnetic, thermodynamic, transport, and hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy experiments on the Ce-based approximant Ag–In–Ce. These results indicate the heavy fermion behavior of the 4f electrons and provide convincing evidence of a magnetic phase transition into a spin-glass-like short-range-ordered state at a low temperature. The Ag–In–Ce alloy is the first Ce-based heavy fermion approximant to a Tsai-type quasicrystal. Reflecting its unique crystal structure, the approximant shows an electrical resistivity distinct from that of traditional Kondo lattices.