Physical properties and crystal chemistry of Ce2Ga12Pt

Single crystals of the new ternary compound Ce(2)Ga(12)Pt were prepared by the self-flux technique. The crystal structure with the space group P4/nbm was established from single crystal x-ray diffraction data and presents a derivative of the LaGa(6)Ni(0.6) prototype. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show Curie-Weiss behaviour due to local Ce(3+) moments. At high temperatures, the magnetic anisotropy is dominated by the crystal-electric-field (CEF) effect with the easy axis along the crystallographic c direction. Ce(2)Ga(12)Pt undergoes two antiferromagnetic phase transitions at T(N,1) = 7.3 K and T(N,2) = 5.5 K and presents several metamagnetic transitions for the magnetic field along c. Specific-heat measurements prove the bulk nature of these magnetic transitions and reveal a doublet CEF ground state. The 4f contribution to the resistivity shows a broad maximum at T(max) ≈ 85 K due to Kondo scattering off the CEF ground state and excited levels.