Abstrakt
Non-magnetic analogues based on La, Lu or Y are often used as the reference materials for precise analysis of physical, especially magnetic, properties of rare-earth based intermetallic compounds. Only in few cases, the physical properties of these analogues have been investigated in detail, however they often exhibit interesting behavior by themselves.
Recently, several La-based compounds, e.g. La2Ni2In or LaPt2Al2 [1,2], were found to undergo a superconducting transition at temperatures below 1 K.
Additionally, these compounds are highly suitable for comparison of experiments with theoretical calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT), as their properties are only very slightly influenced by presence (La, Lu) or absence (Y) of 4f electronic states, respectively. In our work, we focus on La2Pd2In as the counterpart of Ce2Pd2In investigated by our group recently [3].
These compounds crystalize in layered tetragonal P4/mbm structure with specific geometry of rare-earth (R) atoms in the plane occupied solely by these elements. In case of carrying the non-zero magnetic moment, the magnetically frustrated state can occur (Shastry-Sutherland type), provided the antiferromagnetic interaction between R atoms.
Investigation of single-crystalline La2Pd2In at ambient pressure revealed the superconducting ground state developing below 0.6 K. Therefore even La2Pd2In electrons are correlated at low temperatures.
Hydrostatic pressure up to 2.4 GPa leads to linear decrease of transition temperature. Being aware about the impact of crystallographic properties on its electronic behavior the effect of applied pressure on the crystal lattice was estimated by the compressibility measurements along principal crystallographic directions with respect to its anisotropy as well.
The experimental observations are compared with theoretical calculations based on full potential DFT methods in normal state. [1] J. Maiwald et al., Phys.
Rev. B 102 (2020) 165125. [2] P.
Doležal et al., J. Alloys Compd. 848 (2020) 156360. [3] P.
Král et al., J. Alloys Compd., submitted.