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H. Michor, S. Steiner, F. Höferstock, B. Hinterleitner, O. Sologub, B. Stöger, R. Svagera, M. Waas, E. Bauer, V. Levytskyy, V. Babizhetskyy, B. Kotur:
"Crystal Growth of LuNiC₂ and Studies of its Charge Density Wave Physics";
Talk: 1st German-Austrian Conference on Crystal Growth (GACCG/DKT2018), Wien; 2018-02-14 - 2018-02-16.

Ternary carbides RNiC₂ (R = La, .. Lu) and RCoC₂ (R = Nd, .. Lu) crystallize in the non-centrosymmetric orthorhombic CeNiC₂-type structure, space group Amm2 [1,2]. These compounds attracted attention because of various interesting properties such as exotic superconductivity in LaNiC [2,3] observations of charge density wave (CDW) formation related to quasi-one-dimensional electronic features and Fermi surface nesting in RNiC₂ with R = Pr, .. Ho and, finally, the complex interplay of CDW ordering with rare earth magnetism in RNiC₂ (reviewed in Ref. [4]).
In the present talk, we report on crystal growth by means of Czochralski pulling as well as by the optical floating zone technique and on magnetic and electronic properties studied by magnetization, specific heat and electrical resistivity measurements with focus on two isostructural compounds, one with and one without CDW instability: LuNiC₂ and LuCoC₂. Our experimental studies are supplemented by DFT electronic structure studies aiming to reveal Fermi surface features related to CDW ordering as well as interrelations between features and anisotropy of the electronic transport properties and the Fermi surface topology of bands with quasi-one-dimensional and others with three dimensional characters.

[1] O. I. Bodak, E. P. Marusin, V. A. Bruskov, Sov. Phys. Crystallogr. 25 (1980) 355.
[2] W. Jeitschko, M. H. Gerss, J. Less-Common Met.116 (1986) 147.
[3] T. Yanagisawa and I. Hase, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. (JPSJ) 81 (2012) SB039.
[4] V. Babizhetskyy, B. Kotur, V. Levytskyy and H. Michor, Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths, Vol 52 (Chapter 298), 1 - 263 (2017).

intermetallic carbides, charge density wave