Single Crystal Growth, Transport, and Electronic Band Structure of YCoGa$_5$

Abstract

Single crystal of YCoGa5 has been grown via Ga self-flux. In this paper, we report the single crystal growth, crystallographic parameters, resistivity, heat capacity, and band structure results of YCoGa5. YCoGa5 accommodates the HoCoGa5 type structure (space group P4/mmm (No. 123), Z = 1, a = 4.2131(6) A, c = 6.7929(13) A, which is isostructural to the extensively studied heavy fermion superconductor system CeMIn5 (M = Co, Rh, Ir) and the unconventional superconductor PuCoGa5 with Tc = 18.5 K. No superconductivity is observed down to 1.75 K. Band structure calculation results show that its band at the Fermi level is mainly composed of Co-3d and Ga-4p electrons states, which explains its similarity of physical properties to YbCoGa5 and LuCoGa5.