Abstract
We performed ultrasonic measurements on a quaternary cubic compound PrRu2In2Zn18 to explore the ground state properties derived from non-Kramers Γ3 doublet of Pr3+.PrRu2In2Zn18 is a quaternary derivative of the ternary compound PrRu2Zn20 that exhibits a structural phase transition at Ts=138 K.In PrRu2In2Zn18,the Zn atoms at the 16c site in PrRu2Zn20 are selectively replaced by In atoms.A monotonic increase was observed in the temperature dependence of elastic constants CL=(C11+2C12+4C44)/3 and CT=(C11-C12+C44)/3 in the temperature range around Ts to which an elastic softening was observed in(C11-C12)/2 for PrRu2Zn20.The disappearance of the softening indicates that the structural transition in PrRu2Zn20 is suppressed by the substitution of Zn ions by In ones with a larger ionic radius.Alternatively,the CT of PrRu2In2Zn18 exhibits a precursor Curie-type elastic softening toward low temperatures being responsible for the non-Kramers Γ3 ground state.We discuss the ground state and the evolution of the elastic properties of the different single-crystal samples of PrRu2In2Zn18 grown under different conditions.
基金项目
Soft-Path Science and Engineering Research Center(SPERC),Iwate University()
JSPS KAKENHI(JP18K03530)
JSPS KAKENHI(JP21K04622)
JSPS KAKENHI(JP21K13869)
NETL
NSTL
万方数据