Magnetic susceptibility and specific heat experiments were performed on the single crystalline Tb 1Àx Y x B 2 C 2 (0 x 0:5) compounds. The anomalous increase of magnetic susceptibility below T N in TbB 2 C 2 was similarly observed in all the compounds. The Y dilution weakens the domain preference and the in-plane anisotropy in susceptibility disappears for x ¼ 0:4 and 0.5. As x increases, the Néel temperature decreases rapidly so as to reach 0 K around x ¼ 0:6, and the specific heat anomaly around T N also decreases considerably. These results are well explained by the scheme of a Van Vleck antiferromagnetic transition. The specific heat experiments reveal that the 4 f ground state is a singlet with the first excited state of a singlet that locates around 40 K.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.