A dilute limit of CeAl₃: Emergence of the single-ion Kondo scaling

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Strongly diluted CeₓLa₁₋ₓAl₃ alloys have been studied by the low temperature specific heat in order to elucidate the mechanism that determine their ground state. All alloys with Ce concentrations of 0.0005 ≤ x ≤ 0.1 show a S=1/2 Kondo behavior. However, the single-ion scaling is observed only below x=0.01. The true single-ion Kondo temperature is small, 0.2 K, and is identical to that for dilute CeAl₂. It is about 20 times smaller than that for CeAl₃, indicating that intersite interactions facilitate Kondo-screening in CeAl₃ and concentrated CeₓLa₁₋ₓAl₃ alloys.