Growth, discovery and characterization of single crystalline Eu0.8 Pt6Al16.4

Abstract

We report the discovery of a ternary compound, Eu_0.8Pt${}_6$Al_16.4. We determine its chemical and structural characteristics based on energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy as well as both powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction, demonstrating that it crystallizes in a hexagonal structure type EuPt${}_6$Al₁₇ with no reported structural analog. The temperature- and field-dependent magnetization, and temperature-dependent resistance measurements, reveal that the Eu${}^{2+}$ magnetic moments order antiferromagnetically below 2.8 K.