PURIFICATION OF USB AND ITS DE HAAS-VAN-ALPHEN EFFECT

The series of uranium monopnictides has been investigated by many rese archers with interest in the change of the 5f electron nature from iti nerancy in UN to localization in USb and UBi. However, the lack of de Haas van Alphen (dHvA) effect measurements in this series did not allo w accurate information to be obtained for the ground state of the 5f e lectronic structure. This situation is clearly due to the difficulty i n getting high quality single crystals in this series. We succeeded in growing a single crystal of USb with high quality by careful annealin g and by using purified uranium metal, and observed a dHvA signal in U Sb for the first time. We report in detail our crystal-growing process and the results of dHvA effects, and discuss the 5f electron nature i n USb.