Magnetic behaviour of PrFe4Sb12 and NdFe4Sb12 skutterudites

Abstract Skutterudites Pr 0.73 Fe 4 Sb 12 and Nd 0.72 Fe 4 Sb 12 order magnetically below 5 and 16.5 K , respectively. Pr 0.73 Fe 4 Sb 12 exhibits an unusual high electronic contribution to the specific heat C p / T of about 1000 mJ / mol K 2 ; moreover, magnetic fields of the order of 3 T are able to suppress long range magnetic order and at some critical field C p / T behaves proportional to − ln T . Additionally, the low temperature resistivity changes from a T 2 behaviour at μ 0 H=0 T to an almost linear dependence for μ 0 H ≈3– 4 T .