Abstract The series R T 2 X 8 (R = La–Nd, Sm, Eu, Yb, Ca and Sr; T = Fe, Co, Ni, Ru, Rh and Ir; X = Al, Ga and In) belong to a class of quasi-skutterudite intermetallic compounds which crystallize in the orthorhombic CaCo2Al8-type structure with space group P b a m (No. 55). A new member of the series CePd2Al8 crystallizes in a monoclinic structure of its own type with space group C2/m (No. 12). While this family of compounds are still largely unexplored, recent studies have revealed the evolution of interesting electronic and magnetic ground states in certain members of the series. Due to an increasing interest in the study of compounds with cage-like structures owing to their promising properties for thermoelectric applications and the search for heavy fermion superconductivity, it is therefore imperative to put into perspective the observations and important results in previous studies on the R T 2 X 8 series. Besides the macroscopic properties such as specific heat, transport properties and magnetization, other important results from techniques such as neutron scattering, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and Mossbauer spectroscopy are also presented for some of the compounds.

中文翻译：

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准方钴矿 RTX 金属间化合物的电子和磁性

摘要 RT 2 X 8 系列（R = La–Nd、Sm、Eu、Yb、Ca 和 Sr；T = Fe、Co、Ni、Ru、Rh 和 Ir；X = Al、Ga 和 In）属于一类准方钴矿金属间化合物的结晶，其在空间群为 P bam 的正交 CaCo2Al8 型结构中（第 55 号）。CePd2Al8 系列的新成员在其自身类型的单斜晶结构中结晶，空间群为 C2/m（第 12 号）。虽然这一系列化合物在很大程度上仍未被探索，但最近的研究揭示了该系列某些成员中有趣的电子和磁基态的演变。由于对具有笼状结构的化合物的研究越来越感兴趣，因为它们在热电应用和寻找重费米子超导性方面具有广阔的前景，因此，必须正确看待先前对 RT 2 X 8 系列的研究中的观察结果和重要结果。除了比热、传输特性和磁化强度等宏观特性外，还提供了一些化合物的其他重要结果，例如中子散射、X 射线吸收光谱和穆斯堡尔光谱。