Anomalous Metamagnetism in the Low Carrier Density Kondo Lattice YbRh3Si7

Published

December 13, 2018

Author(s)

Binod K. Rai, S. Chikara, Xiaxin Ding, Iain W. H. Oswald, R. Schonemann, V. Loganathan, A. M. Hallas, H. B. Cao, Macy Stavinoha, T. Chen, Haoran Man, Scott Carr, John Singleton, Vivien Zapf, Katherine A. Benavides, Julia Y. Chan, Q. R. Zhang, D. Rhodes, Y. C. Chiu, Luis Balicas, A. A. Aczel, Qingzhen Huang, Jeffrey W. Lynn, J. Gaudet, D. A. Sokolov, H. C. Walker, D. T. Adroja, Pengcheng Dai, Andriy H. Nevidomskyy, C.-L. Huang, E. Morosan

Abstract

We report complex metamagnetic transitions in single crystals of the new low carrier Kondo antiferromagnet YbRh₃Si₇. Electrical transport, magnetization, and specific heat measurements reveal antiferromagnetic order at Τ_N = 7.5 K. Neutron diffraction measurements show that the magnetic ground state of YbRh₃Si₇ is a collinear antiferromagnet where the moments are aligned in the ab plane. With such an ordered state, no metamagnetic transitions are expected when a magnetic filed is applied along the c axis. It is therefore surprising that high field magnetization, torque, and resistivity measurements with Hc reveal two metamagnetic transitions at υ₀H₁ = 6.7 Τ and υ₀H₂ = 21 Τ. When the field is tilted away from the c axis, towards the ab plane, both metamagnetic transitions are shifted to higher fields. The first metamagnetic transition leads to an abrupt increase in the electrical resistivity. Thus, the magnetic and electric degrees of freedom in YbRh₃Si₇ are strongly coupled. We discuss the orign of the anomalous metamagnetism and conclude that it is related to competition between crystal electric field anisotropy and anisotropic exchange interactions.

Citation

Physical Review X

Volume

8

Issue

4

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Kondo Lattice, Metamagnetic Transition, Collinear Antiferromagnet, Neutron Diffraction, Coupled electron transport & magnetism, crystal field

Citation

Rai, B. , Chikara, S. , Ding, X. , Oswald, I. , Schonemann, R. , Loganathan, V. , Hallas, A. , Cao, H. , Stavinoha, M. , Chen, T. , Man, H. , Carr, S. , Singleton, J. , Zapf, V. , Benavides, K. , Chan, J. , Zhang, Q. , Rhodes, D. , Chiu, Y. , Balicas, L. , Aczel, A. , Huang, Q. , Lynn, J. , Gaudet, J. , Sokolov, D. , Walker, H. , Adroja, D. , Dai, P. , Nevidomskyy, A. , Huang, C. and Morosan, E. (2018), Anomalous Metamagnetism in the Low Carrier Density Kondo Lattice YbRh₃Si₇, Physical Review X, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=925650 (Accessed October 10, 2025)