Abstract: With the aim to improve classical paramagnetic salts performances for adiabatic magnetization refrigeration processes, relevant thermodynamic parameters of recently discovered very heavy fermion Yb-based intermetallic compounds are investigated within the sub-Kelvin range of temperature. Focusing on fixed thermal points, required for e.g. photonic devices operating within the 100 mK range in orbital satellites, the nature of respective magnetic ground states are discussed together with the effect of an 'entropy bottleneck' imposed by the Nernst postulate the entropy S(T) trajectories. To gain insight into the main criteria for a proper choice of suitable materials for alternative applications, thermomagnetic S(T,B) trajectories and respective derivatives: δS/δT and δS/δB, are analyzed as key parameters for this magnetocaloric process and compared with those from the classical salt Cerium-Magnesium-Nitride (CMN).

Abstract: On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the first observation of Ce volume collapse in CeN a remembrance of the implications of that transcendent event is presented, along with a review of the knowledge of Ce physical properties available at that time. Coincident anniversary corresponds to the first proposal for Ce as a mix valence element, motivating to briefly review how the valence instability of Ce was investigated since that time.

Abstract: A systematic analysis of low-temperature magnetic phase diagrams of Ce compounds is performed in order to recognize the thermodynamic conditions to be fulfilled by those systems to reach a quantum critical regime or, alternatively, to identify other kinds of low-temperature behavior. Based on specific heat (C m ) and entropy results, three different types of phase diagrams are recognized: (i) with the entropy involved in the ordered phase (S MO) decreasing proportionally to the ordering temperature (T MO); (ii) those showing a transference of degrees of freedom from the ordered phase to a non-magnetic component, with their C m (T MO) jumps (ΔC m ) vanishing at finite temperature; and (iii) those ending at a critical point at finite temperature because their ΔC m do not decrease sufficiently with T MO, producing an entropy accumulation at low temperature. Only those systems belonging to the first case, i.e. with S MO → 0 as T MO → 0, can be regarded as candidates for quantum critical behavior. Their magnetic phase boundaries deviate from the classical negative curvature below T ≈ 2.5 K, denouncing monotonic misleading extrapolations down to T = 0. Different characteristic concentrations are recognized and analyzed for Ce-ligand alloyed systems. In particular, a pre-critical region is identified where the nature of the magnetic transition undergoes significant modifications, with its ∂C m /∂T discontinuity strongly affected by the magnetic field and showing an increasing remnant entropy at T → 0. Physical constraints arising from the third law at T → 0 are discussed and recognized from experimental results.

Abstract: Some non-predicted thermal behavior observed in various Ce-lattice compounds close to their critical points are presented. From a comparison between phase diagrams driven by doping (x) and pressure, a pre-critical region (x* < x < x(cr)) is identified in the former group. Some systematic behaviors, observed in the specific heat (C-m/T) and the entropy gain, are recognized as characteristic features of that region. Different measured temperature dependencies of C-m/T are compared, detecting that the onset of the non-Fermi-liquid behavior occurs much closer to x* than x(cr). In a detailed analysis of the evolution of the thermal dependence within the pre-critical region, a further change in the T dependence is frequently observed before to reach the critical point. A generalized power law function is proposed to compare different systems, which allows to identify a low temperature C-m/T(T) anomaly that only involves about 0.01 x R ln 2 of entropy.