STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION IN UNI2SN - A MAGNETIC, TRANSPORT, THERMAL AND X-RAY STUDY

The authors have studied the magnetisation, resistivity and specific heat of a new U-based Heusler compound UNi2Sn. This compound exhibits a structural transition around T=220 K where both the magnetisation and the resistivity show a large jump and a hysteresis of approximately 30 K between cooling and heating X-ray diffraction confirms that the transition is structural and to a crystallographic phase of much lower symmetry. Below the transition, indications of Kondo-like behaviour are observed.