Magnetic and heat capacity study of the new Gd1-xCexNi₅ series

Abstract

We have prepared a new system of Gd1-xCexNi5 polycrystalline samples with concentrations x =0, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8 in order to study the influence of different rare-earths substitutions on the ground state connected with spin fluctuations. GdNi5 is a ferromagnetic compound with TC=31.8 K and CeNi5 is a well-known spin fluctuation compound without magnetic ordering down to the lowest temperatures. X-ray diffraction study confirms the hexagonal crystal structure and the single phase samples. Magnetic properties (M(T),M(B)) show that an increasing content of Ce depresses the transition temperature, TC, down to 4.9 K for x=0.8. The heat capacity measurements confirmed these results.