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Register a new userArrested Kondo effect and hidden order in URu_2Si_2
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Complex electronic matter exhibit subtle forms of self organization which are almost invisible to the available experimental tools, but which have dramatic physical consequences. One prominent example is provided by the actinide based heavy fermion material URu_2Si_2. At high temperature, the U-5f electrons in URu_2Si_2 carry a very large entropy. This entropy is released at 17.5K via a second order phase transition to a state which remains shrouded in mystery, and which was termed a hidden order state. Here we develop a first principles theoretical method to analyze the electronic spectrum of correlated materials as a function of the position inside the unit cell of the crystal, and use it to identify the low energy excitations of the URu_2Si_2. We identify the order parameter of the hidden order state, and show that it is intimately connected with magnetism. We present first principles results for the temperature evolution of the electronic states of the material. At temperature below 70K U-5f electrons undergo a multichannel Kondo effect, which is arrested at low temperature by the crystal field splitting. At lower temperatures, two broken symmetry states emerge, characterized by a complex order parameter psi. A real $psi$ describes the hidden order phase, and an imaginary psi corresponds to the large moment antiferromagnetic phase, thus providing a unified picture of the two broken symmetry phases, which are realized in this material.
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We develop a Landau Ginzburg theory of the hidden order phase and the local moment antiferromagnetic phase of URu_2Si_2. We unify the two broken symmetries in a common complex order parameter and derive many experimentally relevant consequences such as the topology of the phase diagram in magnetic field and pressure. The theory accounts for the appearance of a moment under application of stress and the thermal expansion anomaly across the phase transitions. It identifies the low energy mode which is seen in the hidden order phase near the conmensurate wavector (0,0, 1) as the pseudo-Goldstone mode of the approximate U(1) symmetry.
We have performed elastic neutron scattering experiments under uniaxial stress sigma applied along the tetragonal [100], [110] and [001] directions for the heavy electron compound URu2Si2. We found that antiferromagnetic (AF) order with large moment is developed with sigma along the [100] and [110] directions. If the order is assumed to be homogeneous, the staggered ordered moment mu_o continuously increases from 0.02 mu_B (sigma=0) to 0.22 mu_B (0.25 GPa). The rate of increase partial mu_o/partial sigma is ~ 1.0 mu_B/GPa, which is four times larger than that for the hydrostatic pressure (partial mu_o/partial P sim 0.25 mu_B/GPa). Above 0.25 GPa, mu_o shows a tendency to saturate, similar to the hydrostatic pressure behavior. For sigma||[001], mu_o shows only a slight increase to 0.028 mu_B (sigma = 0.46 GPa) with a rate of ~ 0.02 mu_B/GPa, indicating that the development of the AF state highly depends on the direction of sigma. We have also found a clear hysteresis loop in the isothermal mu_o(sigma) curve obtained for sigma||[110] under the zero-stress-cooled condition at 1.4 K. This strongly suggests that the sigma-induced AF phase is metastable, and separated from the hidden order phase by a first-order phase transition. We discuss these experimental results on the basis of crystalline strain effects and elastic energy calculations, and show that the c/a ratio plays a key role in the competition between these two phases.
Heavy electronic states originating from the f atomic orbitals underlie a rich variety of quantum phases of matter. We use atomic scale imaging and spectroscopy with the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to examine the novel electronic states that emerge from the uranium f states in URu2Si2. We find that as the temperature is lowered, partial screening of the f electrons spins gives rise to a spatially modulated Kondo-Fano resonance that is maximal between the surface U atoms. At T=17.5 K, URu2Si2 is known to undergo a 2nd order phase transition from the Kondo lattice state into a phase with a hidden order parameter. From tunneling spectroscopy, we identify a spatially modulated, bias-asymmetric energy gap with a mean-field temperature dependence that develops in the hidden order state. Spectroscopic imaging further reveals a spatial correlation between the hidden order gap and the Kondo resonance, suggesting that the two phenomena involve the same electronic states.
We study, using high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, the evolution of the electronic structure in URu2Si2 at the Gamma, Z and X high-symmetry points from the high-temperature Kondo-screened regime to the low-temperature `hidden-order (HO) state. At all temperatures and symmetry points, we find structures resulting from the interaction between heavy and light bands, related to the Kondo lattice formation. At the X point, we directly measure a hybridization gap of 11 meV already open at temperatures above the ordered phase. Strikingly, we find that while the HO induces pronounced changes at Gamma and Z, the hybridization gap at X does not change, indicating that the hidden-order parameter is anisotropic. Furthermore, at the Gamma and Z points, we observe the opening of a gap in momentum in the HO state, and show that the associated electronic structure results from the hybridization of a light electron band with the Kondo-lattice bands characterizing the paramagnetic state.
We measured the polarized optical conductivity of URu$_2$Si$_2$ from room temperature down to 5 K, covering the Kondo state, the coherent Kondo liquid regime, and the hidden-order phase. The normal state is characterized by an anisotropic behavior between the ab plane and c axis responses. The ab plane optical conductivity is strongly influenced by the formation of the coherent Kondo liquid: a sharp Drude peak develops and a hybridization gap at 12 meV leads to a spectral weight transfer to mid-infrared energies. The c axis conductivity has a different behavior: the Drude peak already exists at 300 K and no particular anomaly or gap signature appears in the coherent Kondo liquid regime. When entering the hidden-order state, both polarizations see a dramatic decrease in the Drude spectral weight and scattering rate, compatible with a loss of about 50 % of the carriers at the Fermi level. At the same time a density-wave like gap appears along both polarizations at about 6.5 meV at 5 K. This gap closes respecting a mean field thermal evolution in the ab plane. Along the c axis it remains roughly constant and it fills up rather than closing.
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