Speaker
Ms
Redrisse Djoumessi Fobasso
(University of Johannesburg)
Description
The new ternary intermetallic compound Yb13Pd40Sn31 was obtained as part of the investigation of the isothermal section of the Yb-Pd-Sn system at 600°C [1]. The polycrystalline sample was prepared by induction melting method in sealed tantalum crucible under a stream of pure argon gas. The powder x-ray pattern indicated that the sample crystallizes in a hexagonal structure, similar to hP168-Yb13Pd40Sn31 [1]. Magnetic susceptibility measurement depicted a strange and non-regular temperature dependence in applied magnetic field of 0.01 T. The inverse magnetic susceptibility does not obey Curie-Weiss law throughout the measured temperature range (400 K – 2 K).This behavior is unexpected for Yb in its magnetic Yb3+ state and suggests that the system is well described by the interconfiguration fluctuation (ICF) model, having an unstable valence for Yb ion. The temperature dependent electrical resistivity shows that the compound becomes superconducting below 2.3 K, however, there are some speculations about the bulk character of this superconductivity ground state. Specific heat analysis shows that the anomaly at 2.3 K survives even in 1 T but is completely suppressed in B = 4 T. As a most important discovery, we observe that, aside from the peak at Tsc, there is an enormous upturn in the Cp(T)/T vs T graph towards lowest temperature than can be assigned as a first thought to a form of nuclear entropy.
Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution
Prof. Andre M. Strydom
University of Johannesburg
Level for award<br> (Hons, MSc, <br> PhD, N/A)?
MSc
Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> award (Yes / No)?
Yes
Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?
Yes
Primary author
Ms
Redrisse Djoumessi Fobasso
(University of Johannesburg)
Co-authors
Prof.
Andre Strydom
(University of Johannesburg)
Dr
Federica Gastaldo
(University of Genova)
Prof.
Ivan Curlik
(University of Prešov)
Prof.
Marian Reiffers
(University of Prešov)
Prof.
Mauro Giovannini
(University of Genova)
