Anisotropy-driven quantum criticality in an intermediate valence system

Mihael S. Grbić (), Eoin C. T. O’Farrell (), Yosuke Matsumoto, Kentaro Kuga, Manuel Brando, Robert Küchler, Andriy H. Nevidomskyy, Makoto Yoshida, Toshiro Sakakibara, Yohei Kono, Yasuyuki Shimura, Michael L. Sutherland, Masashi Takigawa () and Satoru Nakatsuji ()
Additional contact information
Mihael S. Grbić: University of Tokyo
Eoin C. T. O’Farrell: University of Tokyo
Yosuke Matsumoto: University of Tokyo
Kentaro Kuga: University of Tokyo
Manuel Brando: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
Robert Küchler: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
Andriy H. Nevidomskyy: Rice University
Makoto Yoshida: University of Tokyo
Toshiro Sakakibara: University of Tokyo
Yohei Kono: University of Tokyo
Yasuyuki Shimura: University of Tokyo
Michael L. Sutherland: University of Cambridge
Masashi Takigawa: University of Tokyo
Satoru Nakatsuji: University of Tokyo

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Intermetallic compounds containing f-electron elements have been prototypical materials for investigating strong electron correlations and quantum criticality (QC). Their heavy fermion ground state evoked by the magnetic f-electrons is susceptible to the onset of quantum phases, such as magnetism or superconductivity, due to the enhanced effective mass (m*) and a corresponding decrease of the Fermi temperature. However, the presence of f-electron valence fluctuations to a non-magnetic state is regarded an anathema to QC, as it usually generates a paramagnetic Fermi-liquid state with quasiparticles of moderate m*. Such systems are typically isotropic, with a characteristic energy scale T0 of the order of hundreds of kelvins that require large magnetic fields or pressures to promote a valence or magnetic instability. Here we show the discovery of a quantum critical behaviour and a Lifshitz transition under low magnetic field in an intermediate valence compound α-YbAlB4. The QC origin is attributed to the anisotropic hybridization between the conduction and localized f-electrons. These findings suggest a new route to bypass the large valence energy scale in developing the QC.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29757-9 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-29757-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29757-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().