No Arabic abstract
The electronic and superconducting properties associated with the topologically non-trivial bands in Weyl semimetals have recently attracted much attention. We report the microscopic properties of the type-I Weyl semimetal TaAs measured by $^{75}$As nuclear magnetic (quadrupole) resonance under zero and elevated magnetic fields over a wide temperature range up to 500 K. The magnetic susceptibility measured by the Knight shift $K$ is found to be negative at low magnetic fields and have a strong field ($B$) dependence as ln$B$ at $T$ = 1.56 K. Such nonlinear field-dependent magnetization can be well accounted for by Landau diamagnetism arising from the 3D linearly dispersed bands, and thus is a fingerprint of topological semimetals. We further study the low-energy excitations by the spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/$T_{1}$. At zero field and 30 K $leq Tleq$ 250 K, 1/$T_{1}T$ shows a $T^{2}$ variation due to Weyl nodes excitations. At $B sim$ 13 T, $1/T_1T$ exhibits the same $T$-dependence but with a smaller value, scaling with $K^2propto T^2$, which indicates that the Korringa relation also holds for a Weyl semimetal. Analysis of the Korringa ratio reveals that the energy range of the linear bands is about 250 K in TaAs.
Strong coupling between discrete phonon and continuous electron-hole pair excitations can give rise to a pronounced asymmetry in the phonon line shape, known as the Fano resonance. This effect has been observed in a variety of systems, such as stripe-phase nickelates, graphene and high-$T_{c}$ superconductors. Here, we reveal explicit evidence for strong coupling between an infrared-active $A_1$ phonon and electronic transitions near the Weyl points (Weyl fermions) through the observation of a Fano resonance in the recently discovered Weyl semimetal TaAs. The resultant asymmetry in the phonon line shape, conspicuous at low temperatures, diminishes continuously as the temperature increases. This anomalous behavior originates from the suppression of the electronic transitions near the Weyl points due to the decreasing occupation of electronic states below the Fermi level ($E_{F}$) with increasing temperature, as well as Pauli blocking caused by thermally excited electrons above $E_{F}$. Our findings not only elucidate the underlying mechanism governing the tunable Fano resonance, but also open a new route for exploring exotic physical phenomena through the properties of phonons in Weyl semimetals.
We report $^{75}$As nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) studies on the superconductor Rb$_{2}$Cr$_{3}$As$_{3}$ with a quasi one-dimensional crystal structure. Below $Tsim$ 100 K, the spin-lattice relaxation rate (1/$T_{1}$) divided by temperature, 1/$T_{1}T$, increases upon cooling down to $T_{rm c}$ = 4.8 K, showing a Curie-Weiss-like temperature dependence. The Knight shift also increases with decreasing temperature. These results suggest ferromagnetic spin fluctuation. In the superconducting state, 1/$T_{1}$ decreases rapidly below $T_{text{c}}$ without a Hebel-Slichter peak, and follows a $T^5$ variation below $Tsim$ 3 K, which point to unconventional superconductivity with point nodes in the gap function.
Filled skutterudite compound EuFe$_4$As$_{12}$ shows the highest magnetic ordering temperature of $T_{rm C}$ = 154 K among Eu-based skutterudite compounds, but its magnetic ground state has not been determined yet. Here, we performed $^{153}$Eu nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and $^{75}$As nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements on EuFe$_4$As$_{12}$ to reveal its magnetic ground state as well as the physical properties from a microscopic point of view. From the temperature and magnetic field dependence of $^{153}$Eu NMR spectrum in the magnetically ordered state, we found that the Eu ions are in Eu$^{2+}$ state with a nearly 7 $mu_{rm B}$ corresponding to $S$ = 7/2 spins. Combined with the magnetization measurements which show the reduced saturation moments of 4.5 $mu_{rm B}$/f.u., we determined the ground magnetic structure in EuFe$_4$As$_{12}$ to be ferrimagnetic where the Eu$^{2+}$ 4$f$ and the Fe 3$d$ ordered moments are ferromagnetically aligned in each sublattice but the moments between the sublattices are antiferromagnetically aligned. We also found the local distortion at the Eu site from the cubic symmetry in the magnetically ordered state. The relationship between the rattling motion of Eu atoms and the local symmetry of the Eu ions is discussed. From the $^{75}$As NQR nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time measurements as well as $^{153}$Eu NMR measurements, we found that the 4$f$ electrons of the Eu ions are well described by the local moment picture in both the magnetic and paramagnetic metallic states.
We performed $^{59}$Co nuclear magnetic and quadrupole resonance (NMR and NQR) measurements under pressure on a single-crystalline CeCoSi, which undergoes an unresolved phase transition at $T_0$. The NQR spectra clearly showed that the phase transition at $T_0$ is nonmagnetic, but any symmetry lowering at the Co site was not seen irrespective of the feature of second-order phase transition. By contrast, the NMR spectra were split by the induced magnetic field perpendicular to the external magnetic field. These results show that the phase below $T_0$ is not a simple paramagnetic state but is most likely electric multipolar ordered state of Ce $4f$ electrons. The development of the Kondo effect by applying pressure is thought to be crucial to stabilize this state and to show novel features beyond commonality of tetragonal Ce-based systems.
In the nematic state of iron-based superconductors, twin formation often obscures the intrinsic, anisotropic, in-plane physical properties.Relatively high in-plane external magnetic fields $H_{rm ext}$ greater than the typical lab-scale magnetic fields 10--15 T are usually required to completely detwin a sample. However, recently a very small in-plane $H_{rm ext} sim$ 0.1 T was found to be sufficient for detwinning the nematic domains in EuFe$_2$As$_2$. To explain this behavior, a microscopic theory based on biquadratic magnetic interactions between the Eu and Fe spins has been proposed. Here, using $^{153}$Eu nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements below the Eu$^{2+}$ ordering temperature, we show experimental evidence of the detwinning under small in-plane $H_{rm ext}$. Our NMR study also reveals the evolution of the angles between the Eu and Fe spins during the detwinning process, which provides the first experimental evidence for the existence of biquadratic coupling in the system.