Within the framework of periodic asymmetric Anderson model for Kondo isoulators an effective singlet-triplet Hamiltonian with indirect antiferromagnetic f-f exchange interaction is introduced which allows to study analytically the dynamic magnetic susceptibilities of f-electrons. The approach allows to describe the three-level spin excitation spectrum with a specific dispersion in $YbB_{12}$. Distinctive feature of the consideration is the introduction of small radius singlet and triplet collective f-d excitations which at movement on a lattice form low - and high-energy spin bands.
We have succeeded in establishing the crystal-field ground state of CeRu2Al10, an orthorhombic intermetallic compound recently identified as a Kondo insulator. Using polarization dependent soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Ce M4,5 edges, together with input from inelastic neutron and magnetic susceptibility experiments, we were able to determine unambiguously the orbital occupation of the 4f shell and to explain quantitatively both the measured magnetic moment along the easy a axis and the small ordered moment along the c-axis. The results provide not only a platform for a realistic modeling of the spin and charge gap of CeRu2Al10, but demonstrate also the potential of soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy to obtain information not easily accessible by neutron techniques for the study of Kondo insulators in general.
The thermal expansion and heat capacity of FeSb2 at ambient pressure agrees with a picture of a temperature induced spin state transition within the Fe t_{2g} multiplet. However, high pressure powder diffraction data show no sign of a structural phase transition up to 7GPa. A bulk modulus B=84(3)GPa has been extracted and the temperature dependence of the Gruneisen parameter has been determined. We discuss here the relevance of a Kondo insulator description for this material.
Magnetic excitations in the isostructural spin-dimer systems Sr3Cr2O8 and Ba3Cr2O8 are probed by means of high-field electron spin resonance at sub-terahertz frequencies. Three types of magnetic modes were observed. One mode is gapless and corresponds to transitions within excited states, while two other sets of modes are gapped and correspond to transitions from the ground to the first excited states. The selection rules of the gapped modes are analyzed in terms of a dynamical Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, suggesting the presence of phonon-assisted effects in the low-temperature spin dynamics of Sr3Cr2O8 and Ba3Cr2O8
In a single-walled carbon nanotube, we observe the spin-1/2 Kondo effect. The energy of spin-resolved Kondo peaks is proportional to magnetic field at high fields, contrary to recent reports. At lower fields, the energy falls below this linear dependence, in qualitative agreement with theoretical expectations. For even electron occupancy, we observe a spin-1 Kondo effect due to the degeneracy of the triplet ground states. Tuning gate voltage within the same Coulomb diamond drives a transition to a singlet ground state. We also independently tune the energy difference between singlet and triplet states with a magnetic field. The Zeeman splitting thus measured confirms the value of the g-factor measured from the spin-1/2 Kondo feature.
We present neutron diffraction, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat data for a single-crystal sample of the cubic (Cu3Au structure) compound Pr3In. This compound is believed to have a singlet (Gamma1) groundstate and a low-lying triplet (Gamma4) excited state. In addition, nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions are frustrated in this structure. Antiferromagnetic order occurs below T_N = 12K with propagation vector (0, 0, 0.5 +/-delta) where delta approx 1/12. The neutron diffraction results can be approximated with the following model: ferromagnetic sheets from each of the three Pr sites alternate in sign along the propagation direction with a twelve-unit-cell square-wave modulation. The three moments of the unit cell of 1 mu_B magnitude are aligned so as to sum to zero as expected for nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions on a triangle. The magnetic susceptibility indicates that in addition to the antiferromagnetic transition at 12K, there is a transition near 70K below which there is a small (0.005 mu_B) ferromagnetic moment. There is considerable field and sample dependence to these transitions. The specific heat data show almost no anomaly at TN = 12K. This may be a consequence of the induced moment in the Gamma1 singlet, but may also be a sample-dependent effect.