Magnetic, electrical, and thermodynamic properties of NpIr: Ambient and high-pressure measurements, and electronic structure calculations

We present bulk property measurements of NpIr, a newly synthesized member of the Np-Ir binary phase diagram, which is isostructural to the noncentrosymmetric pressure-induced ferromagnetic superconductor UIr. Magnetic susceptibility, electronic transport properties at ambient and high pressure, and heat capacity measurements have been performed for temperatures T = 0.55–300 K in a range of magnetic fields up to 14 T and under pressure up to 17.3 GPa. These reveal that NpIr is a moderately heavy fermion Kondo system with strong antiferromagnetic interactions, but there is no evidence of any phase transition down to 0.55 K or at the highest pressure achieved. Experimental results are compared with ab initio calculations of the electronic band structure and lattice heat capacity. An extremely low lattice thermal conductivity is predicted for NpIr at temperatures above 300 K.

WALKER Helen C;  MCEWEN K.A.;  GRIVEAU Jean-Christophe;  ELOIRDI Rachel;  AMADOR CELDRAN Pedro;  MALDONADO P.;  OPPENEER P. M.;  COLINEAU Eric; 

2016-01-12

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

JRC99544

1098-0121,   

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1505.01292v1.pdf,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC99544,   

10.1103/PhysRevB.91.195146,