High Temperature Singlet-Based Magnetism from Hund's Rule Correlations

Published

February 7, 2019

Author(s)

Lin Miao, Rourav Basak, Sheng NMN Ran, Yishuai Xu, Erica Kotta, Haowei He, Jonathan D. Denlinger, Yi-De Chuang, Yang Zhao, Zhijun Xu, Jeffrey W. Lynn, J. R. Jeffries, Shanta Ranjan Saha, Ioannis Giannakis, Pegor Aynajian, Chang-Jong Kang, Yilin Wang, Gabriel Kotliar, Nicholas Butch, L. Andrew Wray

Abstract

Novel electronic phenomena frequently form in heavy fermions as a consequence of the mutual nature of localization and itineracy of f-electrons. On the magnetically ordered side of the heavy fermion phase diagram, f-moments are expected to be localized and decoupled from the Fermi surface. It remains ambiguous and puzzling whether a Kondo-lattice can develop inside the magnetically ordered phase. Using spectroscopic imaging with the scanning tunneling microscope, complemented by neutron scattering, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and dynamical mean-field theory, we probe the electronic states in the antiferromagnetic USb₂ as a function of temperature. We visualize an antiferromagnetic gap at high temperatures (T < T_N 200 K) within which Kondo-hybridization gradually develops below T^coh 80 K. Our dynamical mean-field theory calculations indicate the antiferromagnetism and Kondo-lattice to reside predominantly on different (spin-orbit coupled) f-orbitals, offering new perception into how these two phenomena coexist in heavy heavy fermions. Finally, at T* = 45 K we discover a novel electronic transition through the abrupt emergence of non-trivial 5f quasiparticles that share some resemblance to the "hidden order" phase of URu₂Si₂.

Citation

Nature Communications

Volume

10

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Kondo lattice, antiferromagnet

Citation

Miao, L. , Basak, R. , Ran, S. , Xu, Y. , Kotta, E. , He, H. , Denlinger, J. , Chuang, Y. , Zhao, Y. , Xu, Z. , Lynn, J. , Jeffries, J. , Saha, S. , Giannakis, I. , Aynajian, P. , Kang, C. , Wang, Y. , Kotliar, G. , Butch, N. and Wray, L. (2019), High Temperature Singlet-Based Magnetism from Hund's Rule Correlations, Nature Communications, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=927213 (Accessed November 3, 2025)