Investigation of the thermal and magnetic properties of some Ce-based heavy electron systems

The aim of this project was an investigation of the thermal and magnetic properties of highly correlated electron systems. To carry out the experiments it was necessary to design, construct and automate a calorimeter and a Faraday susceptibility balance. The calorimeter was used to determine the specific heat of powder samples from 1.5 K to 300 K using a pulse technique. Initially the performance of the calorimeter was verified using spectrographically pure copper samples. The specific heat of CePt2 and LaPt2 has been measured in the temperature range from 3 K to 100 K. The f-electron contribution to the specific heat of CePt2 was determined by subtracting the measured specific heat of isostructural LaPt2 from CePt2. This difference revealed a Schottky anomaly at temperatures between 15 K and 100 K. which enabled the crystal-field splitting of the J=5/2 ground state manifold of Ce3+ to be deduced. [Continues.]