Item

Abstract

The magnetic state of the tetragonal compound Ce2PdGe3, which crystallizes in the space group P4(2)/mmc, a derivative of the alpha-ThSi2 structure, has been investigated by magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, muon spin relaxation (mu SR), and neutron diffractionmeasurements. Heat capacity data indicate two separate magnetic phase transitions at T-N1 = 10.7 K and T-N2 = 2.3 K. The presence of bulk long-range magnetic order is confirmed by our mu SR study below 11 K, where a drop of nearly 2/3 in the muon initial asymmetry and a sharp increase in the muon depolarization rate were observed. Neutron powder diffraction reveals that only one out of two Ce sites becomes magnetically ordered with magnetic propagation vector kappa = (0) at T-N1, adopting an antiferromagnetic arrangement of magnetic moments mu(Ce3+) = 1.78(1) mu(B) along the c axis. At T-N2 the second Ce site orders similarly, following the same magnetic propagation vector kappa = (0), showing, however, at the same time a significant ferromagnetic component within the tetragonal basal plane. A second propagation vector, kappa = (1/2,0, 1/2), appears concomitantly at T-N2.