Paramagnetic spectral response of CePd3: A comparative investigation of neutron inelastic scattering from single-crystal and polycrystalline samples

We report a comparative neutron inelastic-scattering study of single-crystal and polycrystalline samples of CePd3 with the aim to resolve conflicting claims concerning the form of the paramagnetic spectral response of the compound. The present measurements show that the inelastic scattering particularly at low scattering angles is very similar for both samples. We find also that the observed scattering at energies below 30 meV is mostly nonmagnetic. At low angles it is dominated by multiple-scattering processes in the relatively large samples used for the measurements. Magnetic scattering occurs predominantly at high energies and can be represented by a single-ion spectral function centered on a characteristic energy of similar to 50-55 meV, in good accord with previous findings from time-of-flight and polarized neutron measurements on a triple-axis spectrometer.