NMR study of CeTe at low temperatures

We present 125Te NMR measurements on CeTe powder at temperatures between 1 and 150 K and in magnetic fields between 5 and 8 T. CeTe is a rocksalt-type intermetallic compound. It orders antiferromagnetically at T N ≈ 2.2 K with a much reduced ordered moment [H.R. Ott, J.K. Kjems, F. Hulliger, Phys. Rev. Lett. 42 20 (1979) 1378]. From our low-temperature NMR spectra we infer the presence of at least three inequivalent Te sites at low temperatures. Considering the crystal structure this result is completely unexpected. The linewidths and the Knight shifts of the individual lines are significantly different and increase substantially with decreasing temperature. They follow the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility above 20 K. Above T N , hyperfine fields of 1.6, 0.8 and 0.0 T at the three Te sites per Bohr magneton of Ce moment are deduced from Knight shift vs. magnetic susceptibility data. These values are typical for transferred hyperfine fields via conduction electrons.