Low-temperature transport properties of UCu₅

Abstract

The electrical resistivity ϱ(T) and the thermal conductivity λ(T) have been measured for UCu₅ in the temperature range between 0.02 and 20 K. Two distinct anomalies in ϱ(T) are due to previously established phase transitions at approximately 15 and 1 K, respectively. They indicate considerable changes in the electronic structure of this compound, implying sizeable truncations of the Fermi surface with decreasing temperature at both transitions. In almost the entire covered temperature range the thermal conductivity is dominated by phonon contributions. Its temperature dependence is fairly well reproduced by a calculation considering phonon scattering by electrons and by point defects. At very low temperatures, asT approaches 0 K, the Wiedemann-Franz law λ _e ρL ₀ T, where λ _e is the electronic part of λ(T) andL ₀ is the Lorenz number, is almost perfectly fulfilled.