ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Probing hybridization strength and homogeneity of valence mixing in magnetically-ordered, intermediate-valence EuCu2(SixGe1-x)2.

Abstract: The compounds we want to study belong to the well-known tetragonal RM2X2 family (R: rare earth, M: d element, X: Ge, Si). In EuCu2(SixGe1-x)2, the Eu valence changes, as a function of the Si concentration x, from close to 2+ (magnetic, 4f7) for x = 0 to strongly intermediate, nonmagnetic above xc = 0.65. In the vicinity of xc, the system exhibits Kondo effect and heavy-fermion properties, which are quite unusual for Eu. We propose to probe the sd-f hybridization in these materials by studying its effects on the crystal-field scheme of Er impurities, which can sense the delocalization of 4f electrons. Another goal is to check the absence of ionic Eu3+ excitations in Ge-rich compounds despite the sizable deviation from the 2+ valence. The measurements can be done on MARI with sufficiently thin samples and using a low enough Er concentration so as not to affect the properties of the host.

Principal Investigator: Dr Kirill Nemkovskiy
Experimenter: Dr Jean-Michel Mignot
Experimenter: Dr Marina Ganeva
Experimenter: Professor Pavel Alekseev
Local Contact: Dr Duc Le

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1520083

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1520083

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Kirill Nemkovskiy et al; (2015): Probing hybridization strength and homogeneity of valence mixing in magnetically-ordered, intermediate-valence EuCu2(SixGe1-x)2., STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1520083

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.