title: Crystal growth, structural, electrical, and magnetic properties of mixed-valent compounds YbOs2Al10 and LuOs2Al10.
abstract: Single crystals of YbOs2Al10 and LuOs2Al10 were grown for the first time using an aluminum self-flux method. The compounds crystallized into a cagelike structure in space group Cmcm, similar to the prototype compound YbFe2Al10. YbOs2Al10 exhibited a mixed-valent nature, as determined by magnetic susceptibility measurements over a wide temperature range from 2 to 900 K, in which the inter-configuration-fluctuation model revealed a broad peak around 400 K. In contrast, LuOs2Al10 displayed Pauli-like paramagnetic behavior over the same temperature range. Both compounds were metallic in nature between 2 and 300 K. The electronic specific heat coefficient of 21.3(2) mJ mol(-1) K(-2) for YbOs2Al10 was determined to be larger than that for LuOs2Al10 [8.9(1) mJ mol(-1) K(-2)], reflecting the mixed-valent nature of the former. First-principles calculations predicted the presence of a mixed-valent state in YbOs2Al10, in agreement with the experimental observations. The novel compound YbOs2Al10 elucidates the evolution of the mixed-valent nature of the Yb-based ternary transition metal aluminides from the 3d to 5d elements.
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics & Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Desheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yifeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Jiyong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Hongwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Youguo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Kazunari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamaura
authors.forename: Nanlin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang