No Arabic abstract
We report temperature-dependent polarized optical conductivity [$sigma(omega)$] spectra of CeFe$_2$Al$_{10}$, which is a reference material for CeRu$_2$Al$_{10}$ and CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$ with an anomalous magnetic transition at 28 K. The $sigma(omega)$ spectrum along the b-axis differs greatly from that in the $ac$-plane, indicating that this material has an anisotropic electronic structure. At low temperatures, in all axes, a shoulder structure due to the optical transition across the hybridization gap between the conduction band and the localized $4f$ states, namely $c$-$f$ hybridization, appears at 55 meV. However, the gap opening temperature and the temperature of appearance of the quasiparticle Drude weight are strongly anisotropic indicating the anisotropic Kondo temperature. The strong anisotropic nature in both electronic structure and Kondo temperature is considered to be relevant the anomalous magnetic phase transition in CeRu$_2$Al$_{10}$ and CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$.
The CeT2Al10 family of orthorhombic compounds exhibits a very peculiar evolution from a Kondo-insulator (T: Fe) to an unconventional long-range magnetic order (T: Ru, Os). Inelastic neutron scattering experiments performed on single-crystal CeFe2Al10 reveal that this material develops a spin-gap in its magnetic spectral response below ~ 50 K, with a magnetic excitation dispersing from $E = 10.2 pm 0.5$ meV at the Y zone-boundary point [q = (0,1,0)] to $approx 12$ meV at the top of the branch. The excitation shows a pronounced polarization of the magnetic fluctuations along a, the easy anisotropy axis. Its behavior is contrasted with that of the (magnonlike) modes previously reported for CeRu2Al10, which have transverse character and exist only in the antiferromagnetic state. The present observation is ascribed to a magnetic exciton mechanism invoked to explain a similar magnetic response previously discovered in YbB12.
Kondo insulators and in particular their non-cubic representatives have remained poorly understood. Here we report on the development of an anisotropic energy pseudogap in the tetragonal compound CeRu$_4$Sn$_6$ employing optical reflectivity measurements in broad frequency and temperature ranges, and local density approximation plus dynamical mean field theory calculations. The calculations provide evidence for a Kondo insulator-like response within the $a-a$ plane and a more metallic response along the c axis and qualitatively reproduce the experimental observations, helping to identify their origin.
An anisotropic Kondo semiconductor CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$ exhibits an unusual antiferromagnetic order at rather high transition temperature $T_0$ of 28.5 K. Two possible origins of the magnetic order have been proposed so far, one is the Kondo coupling of the hybridization between the conduction ($c$) and the $4f$ states and the other is the charge-density wave/charge ordering along the orthorhombic $b$ axis. To clarify the origin of the magnetic order, we have investigated the electronic structure of hole- and electron-doped CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$ [Ce(Os$_{1-y}$Re$_y$)$_2$Al$_{10}$ and Ce(Os$_{1-x}$Ir$_x$)$_2$Al$_{10}$, respectively] by using optical conductivity spectra along the $b$ axis. The intensity of the $c$-$f$ hybridization gap at $hbaromegasim50$ meV continuously decreases from $y=0.10$ to $x=0.12$ via $x=y=0$. The intensity of the charge excitation observed at $hbaromegasim20$ meV has the maximum at $x=y=0$ as similar with the doping dependence of $T_{rm 0}$. The fact that the charge excitation is strongly related to the magnetic order strengthens the possibility of the charge density wave/charge ordering as the origin of the magnetic order.
We report the anisotropic changes in the electronic structure of a Kondo semiconductor CeOs$_2$Al$_{10}$ across an anomalous antiferromagnetic ordering temperature ($T_0$) of 29 K, using optical conductivity spectra. The spectra along the $a$- and $c$-axes indicate that a $c$-$f$ hybridization gap emerges from a higher temperature continuously across $T_0$. Along the b-axis, on the other hand, a different energy gap with a peak at 20 meV appears below 39 K, which is higher temperature than $T_0$, because of structural distortion. The onset of the energy gap becomes visible below $T_0$. Our observation reveals that the electronic structure as well as the energy gap opening along the b-axis due to the structural distortion induces antiferromagnetic ordering below $T_0$.
Spin dynamics in the new Kondo insulator compound CeRu2Al10 has been studied using unpolarized and polarized neutron scattering on single crystals. In the unconventional ordered phase forming below T0 = 27.3 K, two excitation branches are observed with significant intensities, the lower one of which has a gap of 4.8 +/- 0.3 meV and a pronounced dispersion up to about 8.5 meV. Comparison with RPA magnon calculations assuming crystal-field and anisotropic exchange couplings captures major aspects of the data, but leaves unexplained discrepancies, pointing to a key role of direction-specific hybridization between 4f and conduction band states in this compound.