Single crystal growth of CeTAl3 (T = Cu, Ag, Au, Pd and Pt)

• Published in: Journal of alloys and compounds 2016-12, Vol.688, p.978-986
• Main Authors: Franz, C., Senyshyn, A., Regnat, A., Duvinage, C., Schönmann, R., Bauer, A., Prots, Y., Akselrud, L., Hlukhyy, V., Baran, V., Pfleiderer, C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Crystal structure determination; Electrical resistivity; Float zone technique; Magnetic materials; Rare earth compounds; Single crystal growth
• ISSN: 0925-8388; 1873-4669
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2016.07.071

We report single crystal growth of the series of CeTAl3 compounds with T = Cu, Ag, Au, Pd and Pt by means of optical float zoning, where high crystal quality was confirmed in a thorough characterization process. With the exception of CeAgAl3, all compounds crystallize in the non-centrosymmetric tetragonal BaNiSn3 structure (space group: I4mm, No. 107), whereas CeAgAl3 adopts the related orthorhombic PbSbO2Cl structure (Cmcm, No. 63). An attempt to grow CeNiAl3 resulted in the composition CeNi2Al5. Low temperature resistivity measurements down to ∼ 0.1 K did not reveal evidence suggestive of magnetic order in CePtAl3 and CePdAl3. In contrast, CeAuAl3, CeCuAl3 and CeAgAl3 display signatures of magnetic transitions at 1.3 K, 2.1 K and 3.2 K, respectively. This is consistent with previous reports of antiferromagnetic order in CeAuAl3 and CeCuAl3 as well as ferromagnetism in CeAgAl3, respectively. •Single crystal growth in float zone technique of CeTAl3 (T = Cu, Ag, Au, Pd and Pt).•Crystal structure is I4mm for T = Au, Cu, Pt, Pd.•CePdAl3 shows a three-fold multiplied parameter a.•Orthorhomic distortion to Cmcm structure is found for T = Ag.•No magnetic order is found for T = Pt, Pd down to 100 mK.