Magnetic anisotropy and spin-glass behavior in single crystalline U2PdSi3

• Published in: Journal of physics. Condensed matter 2011-02, Vol.23 (7), p.076003-076003
• Main Authors: Li, D X, Kimura, A, Haga, Y, Nimori, S, Shikama, T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anisotropy; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Crystallization; Electronic conduction in metals and alloys; Electronic transport in condensed matter; Exact sciences and technology; Glass - chemistry; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetic properties and materials; Magnetically ordered materials: other intrinsic properties; Magnetics; Materials Testing; Molecular Conformation; Palladium - chemistry; Phase Transition; Physics; Saturation moments and magnetic susceptibilities; Scattering mechanisms and kondo effect; Silicon - chemistry; Spin glasses and other random magnets; Studies of specific magnetic materials; Uranium - chemistry
• ISSN: 0953-8984; 1361-648X
• DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/23/7/076003

We present the magnetic and transport properties of single crystalline U(2)PdSi(3) measured with the magnetic field (H) (or measuring current, I) applied along two typical crystallographic directions, i.e. H ⊥ c-axis and H c-axis (or I ⊥ c-axis and I c-axis). For both directions, a spin-glass state is confirmed to form at low temperature with the same spin freezing temperature T(f) (=11.5 K), initial frequency shift δT(f) (=0.023) and activation energy E(a)/k(B) (=90.15 K) in zero dc field. Strong anisotropy in magnetic and transport behavior is found to be a significant feature of U(2)PdSi(3). The unusual ferromagnetic-like anomaly in ac susceptibility and dc magnetization curves around T(m)=71 K is observed in the case of H c-axis but not in the cases of H ⊥ c-axis. The characteristic temperature T(ir), below which evident irreversible magnetism originated from random spin freezing can be observed, shows much stronger field dependence for H ⊥ c-axis than for H c-axis. Moreover, an unusual finding is that the electrical resistivity measurements indicate the formation of magnetic Brillouin-zone boundary gaps and much larger magnetic scattering for I ⊥ c-axis, while the coherent-Kondo-effect-like behavior is obvious for I c-axis. We also emphasize that no resistivity minimum can be detected down to 2.5 K for either direction. The observed magnetic and transport behaviors are compared with those in polycrystalline U(2)PdSi(3) and other 2:1:3 intermetallic compounds.