Magnetism and crystal-field effects in the R2Rh3Si5 (R = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Tb, Gd, Dy, Er, Ho, and Tm) system - art. no. 064514

摘要

It is demonstrated through detailed studies that compounds belonging to the R2Fe3Si5 series exhibit unusual superconducting and magnetic properties. Although a reasonable number of studies have been made on this series, only a few investigations have been carried out on closely related R2Rh3Si5 series. In this work, we attempt to provide a comprehensive study of bulk properties such as resistivity, susceptibility, and heat capacity of large number of compounds which form in this series. Our measurements indicate the existence of a considerable contribution from the splitting of the energy levels due to crystalline electric fields (CEF's) to the bulk properties of all magnetic rare-earth compounds. We also propose a model to account for this CEF contribution. [References: 30]