HIGH OXYGEN-PRESSURE SYNTHESIS OF THE PRBA2CU4O8 COMPOUND

The PrBa2Cu4O8 compound with a trace of BaCuO3 and PrBaO3 was synthesi zed for the first time by annealing at the temperature of 957 degrees C under 5 atm oxygen pressure. The content of the PrBaO3 is estimated to be less than 0.2%. The superconducting transition was not detected down to 2 K. The magnitude of the resistivity and its temperature depe ndence are consistent with the possession of a metallic character in t his compound in contrast to the semiconducting behavior reported previ ously for the PrBa2CU3O7-delta compound. The effective magnetic moment , mu(eff), estimated from the Curie-Weiss fitting to the magnetic susc eptibility data, turns out to be 2.67 mu(B).