CHINESE JOURNAL OF PHYSICS VOL. 40, NO. 1 FEBRUARY 2002

Magnetism, the Kondo Effect and Spin Correlations in TbFe₂(Si_1-xGe_x)₂

H. M. Duh¹, M. C. Hsieh¹, S. F. Yen¹, C. H. Lin¹, K. Y. Hwang¹, and I. S. Lyubutin<sup>2

1</sup>Department of Physics, National Kaohsiung Normal University,

Kaohsiung, Taiwan 802, R.O.C.

²Institute of Crystallography RAS, Moscow 117333, Russia
(Received October 3, 2001)

A series of intermetallic compounds TbFe₂(Si_1-xGe_x)₂ with $0\leq x\leq 1$ and $\Delta x=0.1$ was prepared, and x-ray diffraction, electric resistivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements were performed. For all concentrations $0\leq x\leq 1$, besides the low temperature Neél point T_N and the Kondo temperature T_K, the high temperature characteristic points T_SC were observed, where spin fluctuations start to influence the transport and magnetic properties of the material. The values of T_N and T_SC, obtained for different x, have a direct relationship with the behavior of the c-axis, and all these quantities have a minimum at x = 0.4. The decrease of T_N with the crystal lattice condensation is rather unusual and can be related to the Kondo mechanism. The TbFe₂Ge₂ compound can be characterized as an antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice. Some other mechanisms of the T_N and T_SC behavior are also discussed.

PACS. 61.90.+d - Other topics in structure of solids and liquids.
PACS. 75.25.+z - Spin arrangements in magnetically ordered materials.
PACS. 75.30.Mb - Valence fluctuation, Kondo lattice, and heavy-fermion phenomena.

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