Anisotropic intermediate valence in Yb2M3Ga9 (M = Rh, Ir)

The intermediate valence compounds Yb2M3Ga9 (M = Rh, Ir) exhibit an anisotropic magnetic susceptibility. We report measurements of the temperature dependence of the 4f occupation number, nf(T), for Yb2M3Ga9 as well as the magnetic inelastic neutron scattering spectrum Smag at 12 and 300 K for Yb2Rh3Ga9. Both nf(T) and Smag were calculated for the Anderson impurity model with crystal field terms within an approach based on the non-crossing approximation. These results corroborate the importance of crystal field effects in these materials; they also suggest that Anderson lattice effects are important to the physics of Yb2M3Ga9.