CEFEGE3 - A CONCENTRATED KONDO COMPOUND WITH A STABLE VALENCY AND HIGH KONDO TEMPERATURE

We report that the intermetallic compound CeFeGe3 is a Kondo compound possessing a stable valency and a very high Kondo temperature of the order of 100 K. The magnetic susceptibility chi showed Curie-Weiss behavior above about 200 K and the Weiss temperature was found to be about -90 K. chi saturates at the lowest temperatures after making a faint maximum around 50 K. Below 8 K the specific heat exhibited a large temperature-independent linear term gamma, amounting to 150 mJ/mol K-2 and the electrical resistivity showed T-2 dependence below about 4 K. The compound exhibited no phase transitions above 0.05 K and it is characterized as a nonmagnetic heavy-electron compound with the properties of a heavy Fermi liquid at low temperatures. The results of the magnetic susceptibility and magnetic contribution of the specific heat suggest a j = 3/2 Kondo effect, which is also consistent with the result of thermoelectric power.