Antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice compound CePt3P

A new ternary platinum phosphide CePt₃P 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 APt₃P (A = Sr, Ca, La) and closely related to the noncentrosymmetric heavy fermion superconductor CePt₃Si. In contrast to all the superconducting counterparts, however, no superconductivity is observed in CePt₃P down to 0.5 K. Instead, CePt₃P 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 γ_Ce = 86 mJ/mol·K² indicating that CePt₃P is a moderately correlated antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice compound.