Magnetism and superconductivity in (HoxY1-x)Ni2B2C

The pseudoquarternary system (HoxY1-x)Ni2B2C has been investigated by resistance and magnetization measurements. A linear depression of the superconducting transition temperature T-C found with increasing Ho content is interpreted in the framework of the Abrikosov-Gor'kov theory which predicts also a linear scaling of T-C with the de Gennes factor of the rare earth elements R of the RNi(2)B(2)C family. We found that both cases follow a common linear scaling behaviour including the superconducting transition and the magnetic ordering temperature. A reentrant behaviour observed for Ho contents x greater than or equal to 0.5 results in maxima in the temperature dependence of the upper critical field H-c2(T), which are compared with H-c2(T) data of TmNi2B2C. In the paramagnetic range of field and temperature the sample magnetization can be described by a Brillouin function with a He-moment of 10.5 mu(B).