Structure, transport and thermal properties of UCoGa

Abstract

By means of neutron powder diffraction, we find that UCoGa crystallizes in the hexagonal ZrNiAl structure and orders ferromagnetically at low temperatures with magnetic moments stacked along the c axis. The magnetic-ordering temperature is reflected in anomalies in the temperature dependencies of the electrical resistivity and the specific heat at TC =47 K. Furthermore, the strong anisotropy in the electrical resistivity for i∥c and i⊥c indicates a significant contribution of the magnetic anisotropy to the electrical resistivity.