Hidden order in Ce3Co4Sn13

We propose a powder inelastic neutron scattering experiment on the Merlin instrument to measure changes in the energy transfer of excitations between the 3 Ce3+ Kramers doublets in Ce3Co4Sn13. These measurements will be made on warming through a low temperature specific heat anomaly, which must originate in a yet to be found ‘hidden order’. If successful, we will demonstrate that the low temperature phase transition of this puzzling system originates in quadrupolar order, which may persist while magnetic dipole order is suppressed by competing Ising-like single ion anisotropies.