Antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice compound CePt$_{3}$P

Abstract

A new ternary platinum phosphide CePt$_{3}$P was synthesized and characterized by means of magnetic, thermodynamic and transport measurements. The compound crystallizes in an antiperovskite tetragonal structure similar to that in the canonical family of platinum-based superconductors $A$Pt$_{3}$P ($A$ = Sr, Ca, La) and closely related to the noncentrosymmetric heavy fermion superconductor CePt$_{3}$Si. In contrast to all the superconducting counterparts, however, no superconductivity is observed in CePt$_{3}$P down to 0.5 K. Instead, CePt$_{3}$P displays a coexistence of antiferromagnetic ordering, Kondo effect and crystalline electric field effect. A field-induced spin-flop transition is observed below the magnetic ordering temperature $T_{N1}$ of 3.0 K while the Kondo temperature is of similar magnitude as $T_{N1}$. The obtained Sommerfeld coefficient of electronic specific heat is ${\gamma}_{Ce}$ = 86 mJ/molK$^{2}$ indicating that CePt$_{3}$P is a moderately correlated antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice compound.