The Indium‐Rich Intermetallics YbCoIn₅, YbRhIn₅, and YbPtIn₄

Abstract

The indium‐rich intermetallic compounds YbCoIn5 and YbRhIn5 were prepared from the elements in sealed tantalum tubes by the indium flux technique with a starting composition 1:1:7. The tubes were heated at 1320 K (YbCoIn5) and 1300 K (YbRhIn5) for six hours followed by slow cooling (5 K/h) to 670 K. YbPtIn4 was prepared in a sealed molybdenum crucible from an arc‐melted precursor alloy YbPtIn2 with additional indium (6 h at 1370 K followed by slow cooling at a rate of 5 K/h). The structures of the three indides were investigated by single crystal X‐ray data: P4/mmm, HoCoGa5 type, a = 455.90(7), c = 743.3(1) pm, wR2 = 0.0487, 173 F2 values for YbCoIn5, a = 459.52(6), c = 744.2(2) pm, wR2 = 0.0803, 238 F2 values for YbRhIn5 with 12 variables per refinement, and Cmcm, YNiAl4 type, a = 444.5(1), b = 1655.0(1), c = 751.6(1) pm, wR2 = 0.1036, 482 F2 values, 24 variables for YbPtIn4. The transition metal atoms in YbCoIn5 and YbRhIn5 have eight indium neighbors in a square prismatic coordination by indium atoms. These prisms are condensed via common edges forming layers. The ytterbium and further indium atoms are located between these layers. The ytterbium atoms are cuboctahedrally coordinated by twelve indium atoms. The cell volumes indicate intermediate‐valent or divalent ytterbium for YbCoIn5 and YbRhIn5. The YbPtIn4 structure consists of a three‐dimensional [PtIn4] network in which the ytterbium atoms are located in distorted hexagonal channels. Common structural motifs of the three structures are distorted bcc‐like indium cubes which resemble the structure of elemental indium.

Electrical and magnetic properties of TmCoIn5 and YbCoIn5 single crystals

“…These compounds crystallize in HoCoGa 5 -type structure with lattice constants and fractional coordinate listed in Table 1. These parameters agree with previously reported data [8,9]. Fig.…”

Fermi-surface evolution in Yb-substituted CeCoIn5

“…The calculated unit-cell parameters are found to be 1.1% smaller than experimental data in YbCoIn 5 and 1.5% in CeCoIn 5 . 30 To obtain a more detailed description of the electronic structure in the Brillouin zone, maximally localized Wannier functions 31 were constructed which allowed to interpolate the Fermi surface on a very fine k-points grid and, hence, calculate the area of cross sections of the Fermi surface efficiently and precisely. Typically, a grid of 800 × 800 was used to determine the area of a Fermi surface.…”

“…30 The FPLO valence basis set comprised the following states: Yb-4f , 5s, 5p, 5d, 5f , 6s, 6p, 6d, 7s; Co-3s, 3p, 3d, 4s, 4p, 4d, 5s; In-4s, 4p, 4d, 5s, 5p, 5d, 6s, 6p. A linear tetrahedron method with Blöchl corrections with a k mesh of 33 × 33 × 20 points in the full Brillouin zone was used for the k-space integrations.…”

Physical properties of EuPtIn4 intermetallic antiferromagnet

“…Interestingly, the clear elongation of the b-axis indicates the possibility of a 2D Brillouin zone with cylindrical Fermi surfaces along the b direction. In particular, although the member CeNiIn 4 has been reported to display most likely a three-dimensional electronic state [14], the promising features of this series of compounds have not been extensively explored yet, particularly for single crystalline samples [12,[14][15][16]. In order to test the above hypothesis in new members of this series, we here report the synthesis of EuPtIn 4 single crystals and their physical properties by means of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, specific heat and electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements.…”