The magnetic and superconducting properties of the Heusler alloy ${\mathrm{Pd}}_2$YbSn have been investigated with heat-capacity, resistivity, and magnetic-susceptibility measurements. The material undergoes a superconducting transition at 2.46 K and a magnetic transition at 0.23 K. The absence of reentrant behavior shows that the magnetically ordered state is coexistent with the superconductivity. A combined analysis of all the data gives the cubic crystalline electric-field parameters W=-12 K and x=-0.65, implying that the ground state of the ${\mathrm{Yb}}^{3+}$ ion in ${\mathrm{Pd}}_2$YbSn is a ${\Gamma }_7$ magnetic doublet.

• Received 19 February 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.32.135