994.
ABSTRACTIn this study, ultrasonic measurements were performed on a single crystal of cubic PrNi
2Cd
20, down to a temperature of 0.02?K, to investigate the crystalline electric field ground state and search for possible phase transitions at low temperatures. The elastic constant (
C11?
C12)/2, which is related to the Γ
3-symmetry quadrupolar response, exhibits the Curie-type softening at temperatures below ~30?K, which indicates that the present system has a Γ
3 non-Kramers doublet ground state. A leveling-off of the elastic response appears below ~0.1?K toward the lowest temperatures, which implies the presence of level splitting owing to a long-range order in a finite-volume fraction associated with Γ
3-symmetry multipoles. A magnetic field–temperature phase diagram of the present compound is constructed up to 28?T for
H || [110]. A clear acoustic de Haas–van Alphen signal and a possible magnetic-field-induced phase transition at
H ~26?T are also detected by high-magnetic-field measurements.
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