Residual short-range order in the heavy fermion compound CeInCu2.
By using the X-ray diffraction technique, residual short-range order was detected in CeInCu(2), cerium dicopper indium, which is known to be a heavy fermion compound. In spite of the long-range order of this substance, diffuse scattering exhibiting short-range order was observed at room temperature. The correlation parameters obtained showed that an incorrectly occupied lattice site has a tendency to gather atoms of different species at the neighboring sites along the <111> directions. Thus, the disordered region would form a cluster composed of several disordered atoms. Furthermore, a chain-type correlation which has a period of 20-23 Å along the same directions was indicated. The superstructure-like feature of the disordered atoms hardly increases the residual resistivity. It is consistent with the behavior of the residual resistivity under high pressure.
Advanced Research Center of Science (ARCS) of Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya 662, Japan. suikyo@kwansei.ac.jp
I
Takahashi
A
Kagayama
G
Oomi
Y
Onuki
T
Komatsubara