SYNTHESIS, CRYSTAL-STRUCTURE AND INELASTIC NEUTRON-SCATTERING IN THE INFINITE-LAYER COMPOUNDS SR1-XNDXCUO2

For the first time large samples of the nominal composition Sr1-xNdxCu O2 (x = 0.07, 0.15) 10 g in mass each have been prepared using a high- pressure technique. Neutron-diffraction and X-ray measurements have sh own that the main phase in the samples obtained is of the infinite-lay er structure which has been refined in the tetragonal P4/mmm space gro up. Both samples are not superconducting. Inelastic neutron scattering has been employed to search for crystalline-electric-field transition s in these compounds. The observed low-energy spectra exhibit one inel astic line of magnetic origin at 18 meV, comparable in energy with a c rystalline-electric-field excitation in the high-T(c) superconductor N dBa2Cu3Ox.