A μSR Study of Magnetic Correlations in CeNiSn

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Abstract
The formation of magnetic correlations in CeNiSn has been studied by muon spin rotation and relaxation (μSR) spectroscopy covering the temperature range from 250 K to 33 mK. Mainly a single crystalline sample was used. At high temperatures (≥ 2 K) a behaviour similar to that of a spin fluctuator like UAl2 is observed, meaning that over the whole temperature range the paramagnetic moments fluctuate extremely fast (≥ 31014 Hz). Below 1 K the material exhibits properties typical for a paramagnet moving towards magnetic order, but no transition into long-range order could be observed down to the lowest measured temperature. The dependences of muon spin relaxation rate and muon spin precession frequency on external field (applied parallel to the a-axis) are unusual and indicate the formation of extended spin correlations up to short-range order.