We present low-temperature heat and charge transport as well as caloric properties of a ThAsSe single crystal. An extra -AT(1/2) term in the electrical resistivity, independent of magnetic fields as high as 14 T, provides evidence for an unusual scattering of conduction electrons. Additionally, both the thermal conductivity and the specific heat show a glass-type temperature dependence which signifies the presence of tunneling states. These observations apparently point to an experimental realization of a two-channel Kondo effect derived from structural two-level systems.

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The crystal structure of β‐US2 was refined using single crystal X‐ray diffraction data. The lattice constants at room temperature are: a = 8.4803 Å, b = 7.1139 Å, and c = 4.1205 Å. The uranium atom is coordinated by nine sulphur atoms: two at a distance of 2.713 Å, two at 2.896 Å, two at 3.141 Å, one at 2.747 Å, one at 2.826 Å, and one at 2.888 Å. The magnetic measurements were carried out in the temperature range 4.2 to 1000 °K. The increase of the effective magnetic moment from 3.08 to 3.28 BM with temperature is explained on the assumption that the ground state is composed of four closely spaced singlets. The semiconducting character in the temperature range 4.2 to 650 °K was established with a forbidden gap ΔE≈1.2 eV.

The phase equilibrium diagram for the CuI + CsI system has been redetermined by differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction. The phase diagram exhibits three intermediate compoundsCs3Cu2I5, melting incongruently at 663.0 K, CsCu2I3, melting congruently at 656.0 K, and CsCu9I10, undergoing a solid-state disproportionation reaction to CuI + CsCu2I3 at 604.8 K. The existence of CsCu9I10, derived from DSC studies in accordance with the phase rule, is not shown by X-ray diffraction investigations.