Electrical Resistivity of<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>α</mml:mi></mml:math>-Cerium

Abstract

Electrical-resistivity measurements have been made between 1.5 and 300 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K on $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-cerium cooled while at pressures of 10 or 18 kbar. Two types of behavior were found: Cerium quenched from 300 to 77 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K showed the presence of a magnetic impurity, possibly clusters of $\ensuremath{\beta}$-cerium; and cerium which was slowly cooled from room temperature showed no evidence of magnetic behavior. Whereas the "magnetically impure" sample showed a strong $\ensuremath{\rho}\ensuremath{\propto}{T}^{2}$ dependence at low temperatures, the slowly cooled sample had $\ensuremath{\rho}\ensuremath{\propto}{T}^{5}$. It is suggested that the magnetic impurity present in previous studies may have prevented the observation of superconductivity in $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-cerium.