Inelastic Neutron Scattering Studies of the Intermediate Valence Compound CePd3

TL;DR

This study uses inelastic neutron scattering to investigate the magnetic properties of CePd3, revealing temperature-dependent spectra that align with the Anderson impurity model at high temperatures and show deviations from the Anderson lattice model at low temperatures.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence distinguishing impurity and lattice models in describing the magnetic behavior of CePd3.

Findings

High-temperature spectrum matches Anderson impurity model predictions.

Low-temperature spectrum shows inelastic peaks consistent with AIM.

Observed momentum transfer dependence is smaller than ALM predictions.

Abstract

Inelastic neutron scattering measurements on a CePd3 single crystal show a magnetic response at 300 K that is independent of momentum transfer with a Lorentzian quasielastic energy spectrum with a half width of 23 meV. This is in agreement with the Anderson impurity model (AIM), that predicts local moment relaxational behavior in this temperature regime. The 7 K magnetic response has an inelastic Lorentzian spectrum, with characteristic energy of 53 meV and half width 32 meV at the (h, 1/2, 0) zone boundary. Such an inelastic spectrum is expected for the AIM at low temperature. Unlike the Q-independence of the impurity model, a variation of intensity with momentum transfer, including intensity maxima at the zone boundary, is observed in the data. However, this variation is only of order 20 percent, which is much smaller than that predicted by the Anderson lattice model (ALM). The large shifts in spectral weight expected for the ALM as Q varies from zone boundary to zone center are not observed in the experimental spectra.