Peculiarities of anisotropic electrical resistivity in Lu2PdSi3 single crystals

Abstract

Lu₂PdSi₃ represents a non-magnetic member of the class of R₂PdSi₃ intermetallic compounds (R = rare earths) with hexagonal AlB₂-type crystallographic structure. The electrical resistivity of single crystalline Lu₂PdSi₃ is highly anisotropic and reflects metallic behaviour. Its temperature dependence follows the Bloch–Grüneisen law for c-axis orientation [001]. For [100] orientation in the perpendicular plane the observed deviation from the Bloch–Grüneisen law can be explained by the Ioffe–Regel criterion. The relatively low Debye temperature Θ_D of the order of 200 K fairly well agrees with that derived from specific heat data of Lu₂PdSi₃. Notably, Lu₂PdSi₃ allows extracting the magnetic entropy contribution of isostructural R₂PdSi₃ compounds.