In order to investigate the anisotropic magnetic properties of CeAg2Ge2, we have successfully grown the single crystals, for the first time, by high temperature solution growth (flux) method. We have performed a detailed study of the grown single crystals by measuring their electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, specific heat and magnetoresistance. A clear anisotropy and an antiferromagnetic transition at TN = 4.6 K have been observed in the magnetic properties. The magnetic entropy reaches R ln 4 at 20 K indicating that the ground state and the first excited state are very closely spaced (a quasi-quartet state). From the specific heat measurements and crystalline electric field (CEF) analysis of the magnetic susceptibility, we have found the level splitting energies as 5 K and 130 K. The magnetization measurements reveal that the a-axis is the easy axis of magnetization and the saturation moment is μs = 1.6 μB/Ce, corroborating the previous neutron diffraction measurements on a polycrystalline sample.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0611197,
title = {Anisotropic magnetic properties of CeAg$_2$Ge$_2$ single crystal},
author = {A. Thamizhavel and R. Kulkarni and S. K. Dhar},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0611197},
year = {2009}
}