Observation of paramagnetic relaxation in the NpCu4Al8 intermetallic compound

²³⁷Np Mössbauer spectroscopy between 77 and 4.2 K was carried out in connection with neutron diffraction studies between 300 and 2 K on the tetragonal intermetallic NpCu₄Al₈. The Mössbauer spectra give an isomer shift of + 14.3 mm/s vs. NpAl₂ indicating the non-Kramers Np³⁺(⁵I₄)-ion to be present. Below 45 K the onset of magnetic hyperfine splitting is observed. It develops into a fully resolved Zeeman pattern at 4.2 K with B_eff≈330 T. Neutron diffraction finds no evidence for magnetic order over the whole temperature range scanned. All these results can consistently be explained by paramagnetic relaxation phenomena involving a low lying Γ^t₅ doublet closely followed by a Γ^t₄ singlet as the tetragonal crystalline field states of the Np³⁺ ion.