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Abstract

Magnetic and resistivity measurements were used to examine the ternary rare earth compound GdPdSb. A second magnetic transition below the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature T-N was found, indicating a possible ferromagnetic ordering. The electronic structure of GdPdSb was also examined using first principles electronic structure calculations. It was found that the antiferromagnetic configuration is more stable than the ferromagnetic configuration, but that the energy difference is very small between these configurations. For this reason, ferromagnetic behaviour could be expected at low temperature. According to band structure calculations, ferromagnetically ordered GdPdSb is a possible half metal, the first half metallic ferromagnet with the hexagonal LiGaGe structure type.