Electronic structure and magnetism of RPdIn compounds (R=La, Ce, Pr, Nd)

RPdIn (R = La–Nd) compounds were studied by means of magnetic susceptibility, specific heat and photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. The results prove that CePdIn is an antiferromagnetic Kondo lattice with T N below 1.7 K. The Pr-based indide remains paramagnetic down to 1.7 K, and the lack of any magnetic ordering may be due to the presence of a singlet as the crystalline electric field ground state or/and strong hybridization between Pr 4f states and Pd 4d states. In turn, NdPdIn exhibits ferromagnetism below about 26 K. In contrast to CePdIn, for the Pr- and Nd-based compounds any significant enhancement of the electronic specific heat coefficient was observed.