Magnetic study of layered tetragonal compounds based on rare earths and uranium

We have studied the interplay between the layered crystal structure and the 5f magnetism in uranium-based tetragonal compounds UnTIn3n+2. Sin- gle crystals of U2RhIn8, URhIn5 and UIn3 were prepared by In self-flux method. The novel U2RhIn8 compound adopts the Ho2CoGa8-type struc- ture with lattice parameters a = 4.6056(6) ˚A and c = 11.9911(15) ˚A. The behavior of U2RhIn8 strongly resembles that of related URhIn5 and UIn3 with respect to magnetization, specific heat and electrical resistivity except for magnetocrystalline anisotropy developing on stacking composition in the series UIn3 vs. U2RhIn8 and URhIn5. U2RhIn8 orders antiferromagnetically below TN = 117 K and exhibits slightly enhanced Sommerfeld coefficient γ = 47 mJ·mol−1 ·K−2 . TN increases with increasing c/a ratio in contrast to the behavior of their CenTIn3n+2 counterparts. Magnetic field leaves the value of the Néel temperature of URhIn5 and U2RhIn8 unaffected up to 9 T. On the other hand, TN increases with applied hydrostatic pressure up to 3.2 GPa with the ∂TN/∂p coefficient resembling URhIn5 and UIn3. Ther- mal expansion of U2RhIn8 reveals a hysteretic behavior of the antiferromag- netic transition pointing to its 1st -order character. The magnetic structure of URhIn5 obtained from neutron diffraction propagates with k = (1 /2, 1 /2, 1 /2) and the..