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Pressure-Resistant Intermediate Valence in the Kondo Insulator SmB6

Published

Author(s)

Nicholas P. Butch, Johnpierre Paglione, Paul Chow, Yuming Xiao, Chris A. Marianetti, Corwin H. Booth, Jason R. Jeffries

Abstract

Resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy (RXES) was used to determine the pressure dependence of the f-electron occupancy in the Kondo insulator SmB6. Applied pressure reduces the f-occupancy, but surprisingly, the material maintains a significant divalent character up to a pressure of at least 35 GPa. Thus, the closure of the resistive activation energy gap and onset of magnetic order are not driven by stabilization of an integer valent state. Over the entire pressure range, the material maintains a remarkably stable intermediate valence that can in principle support a nontrivial band structure.
Citation
Physical Review Letters
Volume
116
Issue
15

Keywords

valence, pressure, x-ray emission

Citation

Butch, N. , Paglione, J. , Chow, P. , Xiao, Y. , , C. , , C. and , J. (2016), Pressure-Resistant Intermediate Valence in the Kondo Insulator SmB<sub>6</sub>, Physical Review Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=920317 (Accessed April 20, 2024)
Created April 15, 2016, Updated February 19, 2017