No Arabic abstract
The crystal-field ground state wave function of CeCu$_2$Si$_2$ has been investigated with linear polarized $M$-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy from 250mK to 250K, thus covering the superconducting ($T_{text{c}}$=0.6K), the Kondo ($T_{text{K}}$$approx$20K) as well as the Curie-Weiss regime. The comparison with full-multiplet calculations shows that the temperature dependence of the experimental linear dichroism is well explained with a $Gamma_7^{(1)}$ crystal-field ground-state and the thermal population of excited states at around 30meV. The crystal-field scheme does not change throughout the entire temperature range thus making the scenario of orbital switching unlikely. Spectroscopic evidence for the presence of the Ce 4$f^0$ configuration in the ground state is consistent with the possibility for a multi-orbital character of the ground state. We estimate from the Kondo temperature and crystal-field splitting energies that several percents of the higher lying $Gamma_6$ state and $Gamma_7^{(2)}$ crystal-field states are mixed into the primarily $Gamma_7^{(1)}$ ground state. This estimate is also supported by re-normalized band-structure calculations that uses the experimentally determined crystal-field scheme.
CeCu$_2$Si$_2$ is an exemplary correlated electron metal that features two domes of unconventional superconductivity in its temperature-pressure phase diagram. The first dome surrounds an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point, whereas the more exotic second dome may span the termination point of a line of $f$-electron valence transitions. This behavior has received intense interest, but what has been missing are ways to access the high pressure behavior under milder conditions. Here we study Si $rightarrow$ P chemical substitution, which compresses the unit cell volume but simultaneously weakens the hybridization between the $f$- and conduction electron states and encourages complex magnetism. At concentrations that show magnetism, applied pressure suppresses the magnetic ordering temperature and superconductivity is recovered for samples with low disorder. These results reveal that the electronic behavior in this system is controlled by a nontrivial combination of effects from unit cell volume and electronic shell filling. Guided by this topography we discuss prospects for uncovering a valence fluctuation quantum phase transition in the broader family of Ce-based ThCr$_2$Si$_2$-type materials through chemical substitution.
In this paper the low-temperature properties of two isostructural canonical heavy-fermion compounds are contrasted with regards to the interplay between antiferromagnetic (AF) quantum criticality and superconductivity. For CeCu$_2$Si$_2$, fully-gapped d-wave superconductivity forms in the vicinity of an itinerant three-dimensional heavy-fermion spin-density-wave (SDW) quantum critical point (QCP). Inelastic neutron scattering results highlight that both quantum critical SDW fluctuations as well as Mott-type fluctuations of local magnetic moments contribute to the formation of Cooper pairs in CeCu$_2$Si$_2$. In YbRh$_2$Si$_2$, superconductivity appears to be suppressed at $Tgtrsim~10$ mK by AF order ($T_N$ = 70 mK). Ultra-low temperature measurements reveal a hybrid order between nuclear and 4f-electronic spins, which is dominated by the Yb-derived nuclear spins, to develop at $T_A$ slightly above 2 mK. The hybrid order turns out to strongly compete with the primary 4f-electronic order and to push the material towards its QCP. Apparently, this paves the way for heavy-fermion superconductivity to form at $T_c$ = 2 mK. Like the pressure - induced QCP in CeRhIn$_5$, the magnetic field - induced one in YbRh$_2$Si$_2$ is of the local Kondo-destroying variety which corresponds to a Mott-type transition at zero temperature. Therefore, these materials form the link between the large family of about fifty low-$T$ unconventional heavy - fermion superconductors and other families of unconventional superconductors with higher $T_c$s, notably the doped Mott insulators of the cuprates, organic charge-transfer salts and some of the Fe-based superconductors. Our study suggests that heavy-fermion superconductivity near an AF QCP is a robust phenomenon.
We report low temperature specific heat and muon spin relaxation/rotation ($mu$SR) measurements on both polycrystalline and single crystal samples of the pyrochlore magnet Yb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$. This system is believed to possess a spin Hamiltonian supporting a Quantum Spin Ice (QSI) ground state and to display sample variation in its low temperature heat capacity. Our two samples exhibit extremes of this sample variation, yet our $mu$SR measurements indicate a similar disordered low temperature state down to 16 mK in both. We report little temperature dependence to the spin relaxation and no evidence for ferromagnetic order, in contrast to recent reports by Chang emph{et al.} (Nat. Comm. {bf 3}, 992 (2012)). Transverse field (TF) $mu$SR measurements show changes in the temperature dependence of the muon Knight shift which coincide with heat capacity anomalies. We are therefore led to propose that Yb$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$ enters a hidden order ground state below $T_csim265$ mK where the nature of the ordered state is unknown but distinct from simple long range order.
At T$_0$ = 17.5 K an exotic phase emerges from a heavy fermion state in {ur}. The nature of this hidden order (HO) phase has so far evaded explanation. Formation of an unknown quasiparticle (QP) structure is believed to be responsible for the massive removal of entropy at HO transition, however, experiments and ab-initio calculations have been unable to reveal the essential character of the QP. Here we use femtosecond pump-probe time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (tr-ARPES) to elucidate the ultrafast dynamics of the QP. We show how the Fermi surface is renormalized by shifting states away from the Fermi level at specific locations, characterized by vector $q_{<110>} = 0.56 pm 0.08$ {an}. Measurements of the temperature-time response reveal that upon entering the HO the QP lifetime in those locations increases from 42 fs to few hundred fs. The formation of the long-lived QPs is identified here as a principal actor of the HO.
We present time-domain THz spectroscopy data of a thin film of the Kondo-lattice antiferromagnet CeCu$_2$Ge$_2$. The low frequency complex conductivity has been obtained down to temperatures below the onset of magnetic order. At low temperatures a narrow Drude-like peak forms, which is similar to ones found in other heavy fermion compounds that do not exhibit magnetic order. Using this data in conjunction with DC resistivity measurements, we obtain the frequency dependence of the scattering rate and effective mass through an extended Drude model analysis. The zero frequency limit of this analysis yields evidence for large mass renormalization even in the magnetic state, the scale of which agrees closely with that obtained from thermodynamic measurements.