Neutron scattering study of CeTe2

We give a report on our recent elastic and inelastic neutron studies of CeTe2. From the diffraction results, we found that CeTe2 shows two successive transitions and simultaneously undergoes a very large cia ratio change at low temperatures. These results suggest that the upper transition in CeTe2 should have strong magnetoelastic character. Our inelastic neutron study shows two well-defined excitations, which we attribute to the crystal field splitting of Ce3+ indicating that the Ce ions in CeTe2 are relatively well. localised. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.