Thermal, magnetic and electronic properties of non-centrosymmetric YbPt₂B.

Ternary YbPt2B crystallizes in the non-centrosymmetric hexagonal CePt2B-type structure (space group P6(2)22). Electrical resistivity, specific heat and magnetic measurements reveal a magnetic instability at 5.6 K. Furthermore, a spin-reorientation of presumably a ferromagnetic type occurs around 1.5 K. The behaviour at low temperature is governed by a rather weak Kondo effect, T(K) ⩽ 1 K, in the presence of strong crystalline electric field splitting, with a doublet ground state. Besides, the complex magnetic behaviour presumably results from a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction triggered by the absence of inversion symmetry in the crystal structure. Scaling according to the de Gennes factor traces back magnetic ordering in YbPt2B to the Rudermann-Kittel-Kasuya-Yoshida (RKKY) interaction and the smooth evolution of the lattice constants and the unit cell volume of REPt2B (RE = rare earths) refers to the 4f(13) electronic configuration of Yb in YbPt2B.