Novel ternary intermetallics CePd3Al2 and LaPd3Al2

Two novel ternary rare-earth aluminides, CePd 3 Al 2 and LaPd 3 Al 2 , were obtained by arc-melting the elements and subsequent annealing at 800 °C. Their crystal structures were determined from the single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The compounds crystallize with their own structure type: space group Pnma , Z = 4, Pearson symbol oP 24, а = 7.491(2) A, b = 4.3575(17) A, ≿ = 13.123(4) A for CePd 3 Al 2 and а = 7.474(7) A, b = 4.3755(17) A, ≿ = 13.323(9) A for LaPd 3 Al 2 . The physical behavior of the Ce-based material was studied by means of magnetic, electrical resistivity and heat capacity measurements carried out down to 0.4 K. The compound was characterized as an antiferromagnetic heavy-fermion system with the Neel temperature T N = 1 K and the Kondo energy scale of about 2 K.