Antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice compound CePt(3)P

A new ternary platinum phosphide CePt(3)P 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 APt(3)P (A = Sr, Ca, La) and closely related to the noncentrosymmetric heavy fermion superconductor CePt(3)Si. In contrast to all the superconducting counterparts, however, no superconductivity is observed in CePt(3)P down to 0.5 K. Instead, CePt(3)P 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·K(2) indicating that CePt(3)P is a moderately correlated antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice compound.