Low-temperature physical properties of new orthorhombic compounds RE₂Au₃Sn₆ (RE = Ce, La)

Abstract

We have prepared polycrystalline samples of RE2Au3Sn6 (RE = Ce, La) and investigated their magnetic, transport and thermal properties. We found that Ce2Au3Sn6 shows antiferromagnetic transition at T N = 2.54 K, while La2Au3Sn6 shows no phase transition above 0.4 K. The electronic specific heat coefficient of Ce2Au3Sn6 is γ = 350 mJ Ce-mol K2, which indicates that Ce2Au3Sn6 is a heavy fermion compound. The magnetic entropy of Ce2Au3Sn6 at T N is estimated to be 70% of Rln2, which can be attributed to the shielding of the magnetic moment by the Kondo effect.