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We report the first observation of the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) effect in the novel spin-triplet superconductor UTe2 using high quality single crystals with the high residual resistivity ratio (RRR) over 200. The dHvA frequencies, named alpha and beta, are detected for the field directions between c and a-axes. The frequency of branch beta increases rapidly with the field angle tilted from c to a-axis, while branch alpha splits, owing to the maximal and minimal cross-sectional areas from the same Fermi surface. Both dHvA branches, alpha and beta reveal two kinds of cylindrical Fermi surfaces with a strong corrugation at least for branch alpha. The angular dependence of the dHvA frequencies is in very good agreement with that calculated by the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) method taking into account the on-site Coulomb repulsion of U = 2 eV, indicating the main Fermi surfaces are experimentally detected. The detected cyclotron effective masses are large in the range from 32 to 57 m0 . They are approximately 10-20 times lager than the corresponding band masses, consistent with the mass enhancement obtained from the Sommerfeld coefficient and the calculated density of states at the Fermi level. The local density approximation (LDA) calculations of ThTe2 assuming U4+ with the 5f^2 localized model are in less agreement with our experimental results, in spite of the prediction for two cylindrical Fermi surfaces, suggesting a mixed valence states of U4+ and U3+ in UTe2., 7 pages, 8 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jpn

$^{125}$Te NMR experiments in field ($H$) applied along the easy magnetization axis (the $a$-axis) revealed slow electronic dynamics developing in the paramagnetic state of UTe$_2$. The observed slow fluctuations are concerned with a successive growth of long-range electronic correlations below 30$-$40 K, where the spin susceptibility along the hard magnetization axis (the $b$-axis) shows a broad maximum. The experiments also imply that tiny amounts of disorder or defects locally disturb the long-range electronic correlations and develop an inhomogeneous electronic state at low temperatures, leading to a low temperature upturn observed in the bulk-susceptibility in $H\|a$. We suggest that UTe$_2$ would be located on the paramagnetic side near an electronic phase boundary, where either magnetic or Fermi-surface instability would be the origin of the characteristic fluctuations., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn

We investigate the physical properties of a single crystal of uranium telluride U$_{7}$Te$_{12}$. We have confirmed that U$_{7}$Te$_{12}$ crystallizes in the hexagonal structure with three nonequivalent crystallographic uranium sites. The paramagnetic moments are estimated to be approximately 1 $\mu_{\rm B}$ per the uranium site, assuming a uniform moment on all the sites. A ferromagnetic phase transition occurs at $T_{\rm C}=48$ K, where the in-plane magnetization increases sharply, whereas the out-of-plane component does not increase significantly. With decreasing temperature further below $T_{\rm C}$ under field-cooling conditions, the out-of-plane component increases rapidly around $T^{\star}=26$ K. In contrast, the in-plane component hardly changes at $T^{\star}$. Specific heat measurement indicates no $\lambda$-type anomaly around $T^{\star}$, so this is a cross-over suggesting a reorientation of the ordering moments or successive magnetic ordering on the part of the multiple uranium sites.

Generation of very low temperatures has been crucially important for applications and fundamental research, as low-temperature quantum coherence enables operation of quantum computers and formation of exotic quantum states, such as superfluidity and superconductivity. One of the major techniques to reach milli-Kelvin temperatures is adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration (ADR). This method uses almost non-interacting magnetic moments of paramagnetic salts where large distances suppress interactions between the magnetic ions. The large spatial separations are facilitated by water molecules, with a drawback of reduced stability of the material. Here, we show that an H$_2$O-free frustrated magnet KBaYb(BO$_3$)$_2$ can be ideal refrigerant for ADR, achieving at least 22\,mK upon demagnetization under adiabatic conditions. Compared to conventional refrigerants, KBaYb(BO$_3)_2$ does not degrade even under high temperatures and ultra-high vacuum conditions. Further, its frustrated magnetic network and structural randomness enable cooling to temperatures several times lower than the energy scale of magnetic interactions, which is the main limiting factor for the base temperature of conventional refrigerants., Comment: accepted for publication in Communications Materials

The cubic Kondo lattice ${\mathrm{YbCo}}_{2}{\mathrm{Zn}}_{20}$ is one of the heaviest known Fermi liquids. We have measured the low-temperature electrical resistivity $\ensuremath{\rho}(T)$, magnetic susceptibility $\ensuremath{\chi}(T)$, and heat capacity $C(T)$ in single crystals of $\mathrm{Yb}{({\mathrm{Co}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Ni}}_{x})}_{2}{\mathrm{Zn}}_{20}$ ($x\ensuremath{\le}0.126$) and $\mathrm{Yb}{({\mathrm{Co}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{y})}_{2}{\mathrm{Zn}}_{20}$ ($y\ensuremath{\le}0.07$). While pure ${\mathrm{YbCo}}_{2}{\mathrm{Zn}}_{20}$ displays maxima in $\ensuremath{\rho}(T)$ and $\ensuremath{\chi}(T)$, ascribed to an enhanced crystal electric field (CEF) degeneracy, the maxima are suppressed by small amounts ($\ensuremath{\approx}6$ at.%) of substitutions of the Co atoms. This goes along with a suppression of superheavy Fermi liquid behavior as manifested in the divergence of $C/T$. We ascribe the observations to local distortions at the Yb site due to the chemical disorder in the environment, rather than to a chemical pressure effect. This fragileness to the local distortion indicates that superheavy Fermion behavior in ${\mathrm{YbCo}}_{2}{\mathrm{Zn}}_{20}$ is closely linked to an enhanced CEF degeneracy.

An investigation of the low-temperature magnetism of TmMgGaO${}_{4}$, a recently synthesized ``triangular-lattice Ising antiferromagnet,'' reveals an unconventional magnetic architecture that might arise in other similar rare-earth magnets.

We report magnetization, heat capacity, thermal expansion, and magnetostriction measurements down to millikelvin temperatures on the triangular antiferromagnet YbMgGaO4. Our data exclude the formation of the distinct 13 plateau phase observed in other triangular antiferromagnets, but reveal plateaulike features in second derivatives of the free energy, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat, at μ0H=1.0-2.5 T for H∥c and 2-5 T for H⊥c. Using Monte Carlo simulations of a realistic spin Hamiltonian, we ascribe these features to nonmonotonic changes in the magnetization and the 12 plateau that is smeared out by the random distribution of exchange couplings in YbMgGaO4. © 2020 American Physical Society. We would like to thank Yaroslav Kvashnin for technical assistance with the UppASD package. The work in Augsburg was supported by German Research Foundation Project No. 107745057 (TRR80) and by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research through the Sofja Kovalevkaya Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (A.A.T.). The work of I.A.I. and V.V.M. was supported by Russian Science Foundation Grant No. 18-12-00185. Q.M.Z. was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0302904 and 2016YFA0300500) and the NSF of China (11774419 and U1932215).

Frustrated quasidoublets without time-reversal symmetry can host highly unconventional magnetic structures with continuously distributed order parameters even in a single-phase crystal. Here, we report the comprehensive thermodynamic and neutron diffraction investigation on the single crystal of TmMgGaO$_4$, which entails non-Kramers Tm$^{3+}$ ions arranged on a geometrically perfect triangular lattice. The crystal electric field (CEF) randomness caused by the site-mixing disorder of the nonmagnetic Mg$^{2+}$ and Ga$^{3+}$ ions, merges two lowest-lying CEF singlets of Tm$^{3+}$ into a ground-state (GS) quasidoublet. Well below $T_c$ $\sim$ 0.7 K, a small fraction of the antiferromagnetically coupled Tm$^{3+}$ Ising quasidoublets with small inner gaps condense into two-dimensional (2D) up-up-down magnetic structures with continuously distributed order parameters, and give rise to the \emph{columnar} magnetic neutron reflections below $\mu_0H_c$ $\sim$ 2.6 T, with highly anisotropic correlation lengths, $\xi_{ab}$ $\geq$ 250$a$ in the triangular plane and $\xi_c$ $, Comment: Accepted in Physical Review X. The present manuscript is significantly different from the earlier preprint, arXiv:1804.00696, in the analysis, results, and contains additional neutron diffraction data

The emergence of the nematic electronic state that breaks rotational symmetry is one of the most fascinating properties of the iron-based superconductors, and has relevance to cuprates as well. FeSe has a unique ground state in which superconductivity coexists with a nematic order without long-range magnetic ordering, providing a significant opportunity to investigate the role of nematicity in the superconducting pairing interaction. Here, to reveal how the superconducting gap evolves with nematicity, we measure the thermal conductivity and specific heat of FeSe1 - x S x , in which the nematicity is suppressed by isoelectronic sulfur substitution and a nematic critical point (NCP) appears at [Formula: see text] We find that, in the whole nematic regime ([Formula: see text]), the field dependence of two quantities consistently shows two-gap behavior; one gap is small but highly anisotropic with deep minima or line nodes, and the other is larger and more isotropic. In stark contrast, in the tetragonal regime ([Formula: see text]), the larger gap becomes strongly anisotropic, demonstrating an abrupt change in the superconducting gap structure at the NCP. Near the NCP, charge fluctuations of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] orbitals are enhanced equally in the tetragonal side, whereas they develop differently in the orthorhombic side. Our observation therefore directly implies that the orbital-dependent nature of the nematic fluctuations has a strong impact on the superconducting gap structure and hence on the pairing interaction.

The paper studies the effect of charge carrier doping on quantum criticality in the heavy-fermion metal YbRh2Si2. It focuses in particular on the critical temperature crossover-scale, which previously has been assigned as signature of the disintegration of heavy quasiparticles at the quantum critical point. The data are incompatible with the presumed Kondo breakdown and instead point at a Zeeman driven magnetic polarization underlying critical temperature.

DC-magnetization data measured down to 40 mK speak against conventional freezing and reinstate YbMgGaO$_4$ as a triangular spin-liquid candidate. Magnetic susceptibility measured parallel and perpendicular to the $c$-axis reaches constant values below 0.1 and 0.2 K, respectively, thus indicating the presence of gapless low-energy spin excitations. We elucidate their nature in the triple-axis inelastic neutron scattering experiment that pinpoints the low-energy ($E$ $\leq$ $J_0$ $\sim$ 0.2 meV) part of the excitation continuum present at low temperatures ($T$ $$ $J_0$ that is rooted in the breaking of nearest-neighbor valence bonds and persists to temperatures well above $J_0$/$k_B$, the low-energy one originates from the rearrangement of the valence bonds and thus from the propagation of unpaired spins. We further extend this picture to herbertsmithite, the spin-liquid candidate on the kagome lattice, and argue that such a hierarchy of magnetic excitations may be a universal feature of quantum spin liquids., Comment: accepted in Phys. Rev. Lett

We report thermal expansion and magnetostriction of the cubic non-Kramers system ${\mathrm{PrIr}}_{2}{\mathrm{Zn}}_{20}$ with a nonmagnetic ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{3}$ ground-state doublet. In previous experiments, antiferroquadrupolar order at ${T}_{\mathrm{Q}}=0.11$ K and a Fermi liquid state at around ${B}_{\mathrm{c}}\ensuremath{\approx}5\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{T}$ for $\mathbit{B}\ensuremath{\parallel}[001]$, indicative of possible ferrohastatic order, were discovered. For magnetic fields $\mathbit{B}\ensuremath{\parallel}[001]$, the low-temperature longitudinal and transverse thermal expansion and magnetostriction are highly anisotropic. The resulting volume strain is very small, indicating that the Pr valence remains nearly constant as a function of magnetic field. We conclude that the Fermi liquid state around ${B}_{\mathrm{c}}$ forms through a very little change in $c\text{\ensuremath{-}}f$ hybridization. This result is in sharp contrast to Ce- and Yb-based Kramers Kondo lattices, which show significantly larger volume strains due to the high sensitivity of the Kondo temperature to hydrostatic pressure.

Strange-metal phenomena often develop at the border of antiferromagnetic order in strongly correlated metals. It has been well established that they can originate from the fluctuations anchored by the point of continuous quantum phase transition out of the antiferromagnetic order, i.e., a quantum critical point. What has been unclear is how these phenomena can be associated with a potential new phase of matter at zero temperature. Here we show that magnetic frustration of the 4f-local moments in the distorted Kagome intermetallic compound CePdAl gives rise to such a paramagnetic quantum-critical phase. Moreover, we demonstrate that this phase turns into a Fermi liquid through a Mott-like crossover; in a two-dimensional parameter space of pressure and magnetic field, this crossover is linked to a line of zero-temperature 4f-electron localization-delocalization phase transitions at low and moderate pressures. Our discovery motivates a new design principle for strongly correlated metallic states with unconventional excitations that may underlie the development of such effects as high temperature superconductivity., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures

Unconventional superconductivity and magnetism are intertwined on a microscopic level in a wide class of materials. A new approach to this most fundamental and hotly debated issue focuses on the role of interactions between superconducting electrons and bosonic fluctuations at the interface between adjacent layers in heterostructures. Here we fabricate hybrid superlattices consisting of alternating atomic layers of heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn$_5$ and antiferromagnetic (AFM) metal CeRhIn$_5$, in which the AFM order can be suppressed by applying pressure. We find that the superconducting and AFM states coexist in spatially separated layers, but their mutual coupling via the interface significantly modifies the superconducting properties. An analysis of upper critical fields reveals that near the critical pressure where AFM order vanishes, the force binding superconducting electron-pairs acquires an extremely strong-coupling nature. This demonstrates that superconducting pairing can be tuned non-trivially by magnetic fluctuations (paramagnons) injected through the interface, leading to maximization of the pairing interaction., 8 pages, 9 figures

Electronic nematicity that spontaneously breaks the rotational symmetry of the underlying crystal lattice has been a growing issue in high-temperature superconductivity of iron pnictides/chalcogenides and cuprates. FeSe1 − xSx, in which the nematicity can be tuned by isoelectronic sulfur substitution, offers a fascinating opportunity to clarify the direct relationship between the nematicity and superconductivity. Here, we discover a dramatic change in the superconducting gap structure at the critical concentration of sulfur where the nematicity disappears, i.e., nematic critical point. Our observation provides direct evidence that the orbital-dependent nature of the critical nematic fluctuations has a strong impact on the superconducting pairing interaction.

Quantum spin liquid (QSL) is an exotic quantum phase of matter whose ground state is quantum-mechanically entangled without any magnetic ordering. A central issue concerns emergent excitations that characterize QSLs, which are hypothetically associated with quasiparticle fractionalization and topological order. Here we report highly unusual heat conduction generated by the spin degrees of freedom in a QSL state of the pyrochlore magnet Pr$_2$Zr$_2$O$_7$, which hosts spin-ice correlations with strong quantum fluctuations. The thermal conductivity in high temperature regime exhibits a two-gap behavior, which is consistent with the gapped excitations of magnetic ($M$-) and electric monopoles ($E$-particles). At very low temperatures below 200\,mK, the thermal conductivity unexpectedly shows a dramatic enhancement, which well exceeds purely phononic conductivity, demonstrating the presence of highly mobile spin excitations. This new type of excitations can be attributed to emergent photons ($\nu$-particle), coherent gapless spin excitations in a spin-ice manifold., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures

We report a single-crystal study on the magnetism of the rare-earth compound PrTiNbO$_6$ that experimentally realizes the zigzag pseudospin-$\frac{1}{2}$ quantum antiferromagnetic chain model. Random crystal electric field caused by the site mixing between non-magnetic Ti$^{4+}$ and Nb$^{5+}$, results in the non-Kramers ground state quasi-doublet of Pr$^{3+}$ with the effective pseudospin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Ising moment. Despite the antiferromagnetic intersite coupling of about 4 K, no magnetic freezing is detected down to 0.1 K, whilst the system approaches its ground state with almost zero residual spin entropy. At low temperatures, a sizable gap of about 1 K is observed in zero field. We ascribe this gap to off-diagonal anisotropy terms in the pseudospin Hamiltonian, and argue that rare-earth oxides open an interesting venue for studying magnetism of quantum spin chains., Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, 1D correlated magnetism of non-Kramers Ising quasi-doublets in PrTiNbO6

Using thermodynamic measurements, neutron diffraction, nuclear magnetic resonance, and muon spin relaxation, we establish putative quantum spin-liquid behavior in ${\mathrm{Ba}}_{3}{\mathrm{InIr}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{9}$, where unpaired electrons are localized on mixed-valence ${\mathrm{Ir}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{9}$ dimers with ${\mathrm{Ir}}^{4.5+}$ ions. Despite the antiferromagnetic Curie-Weiss temperature on the order of 10 K, neither long-range magnetic order nor spin freezing are observed down to at least 20 mK, such that spins are short-range correlated and dynamic over nearly three decades in temperature. Quadratic power-law behavior of both the spin-lattice relaxation rate and specific heat indicates the gapless nature of the ground state. We envisage that this exotic behavior may be related to an unprecedented combination of the triangular and buckled honeycomb geometries of nearest-neighbor exchange couplings in the mixed-valence setting.

Magnetic penetration depth measurements show that the superconducting gap in this iconic heavy-fermion superconductor is robust against the introduction of disorder, ruling out some superconductivity mechanisms as explanations.

In exotic superconductors including high-$T_c$ copper-oxides, the interactions mediating electron Cooper-pairing are widely considered to have a magnetic rather than the conventional electron-phonon origin. Interest in such exotic pairing was initiated by the 1979 discovery of heavy-fermion superconductivity in CeCu$_2$Si$_2$, which exhibits strong antiferromagnetic fluctuations. A hallmark of unconventional pairing by anisotropic repulsive interactions is that the superconducting energy gap changes sign as a function of the electron momentum, often leading to nodes where the gap goes to zero. Here, we report low-temperature specific heat, thermal conductivity and magnetic penetration depth measurements in CeCu$_2$Si$_2$, demonstrating the absence of gap nodes at any point on the Fermi surface. Moreover, electron-irradiation experiments reveal that the superconductivity survives even when the electron mean free path becomes substantially shorter than the superconducting coherence length. This indicates that superconductivity is robust against impurities, implying that there is no sign change in the gap function. These results show that, contrary to long-standing belief, heavy electrons with extremely strong Coulomb repulsions can condense into a fully-gapped s-wave superconducting state, which has an on-site attractive pairing interaction., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures + Supplement (3 pages, 5 figures)

Hexagonal CeRhSn with paramagnetic $4f$ moments on a distorted Kagome lattice displays zero-field quantum critical behavior related to geometrical frustration. We report high-resolution thermal expansion and magnetostriction measurements under multiextreme conditions such as uniaxial stress up to 200 MPa, temperatures down to 0.1 K and magnetic fields up to 10 T. Under uniaxial stress along the $a$-direction, quantum criticality disappears and a complex magnetic phase diagram arises with a sequence of phases below 1.2 K and fields between 0 and 3 T ($\parallel a$). Since the Kondo coupling increases with stress, which alone would stabilize paramagnetic behavior in CeRhSn, the observed order arises from the release of geometrical frustration by in-plane stress., Accepted in PRB Rapid Comm

Metallic super-heavy fermion compounds can be used for adiabatic demagnetization cooling to temperatures well below 0.1 K., Low-temperature refrigeration is of crucial importance in fundamental research of condensed matter physics, because the investigations of fascinating quantum phenomena, such as superconductivity, superfluidity, and quantum criticality, often require refrigeration down to very low temperatures. Currently, cryogenic refrigerators with 3He gas are widely used for cooling below 1 K. However, usage of the gas has been increasingly difficult because of the current worldwide shortage. Therefore, it is important to consider alternative methods of refrigeration. We show that a new type of refrigerant, the super-heavy electron metal YbCo2Zn20, can be used for adiabatic demagnetization refrigeration, which does not require 3He gas. This method has a number of advantages, including much better metallic thermal conductivity compared to the conventional insulating refrigerants. We also demonstrate that the cooling performance is optimized in Yb1−xScxCo2Zn20 by partial Sc substitution, with x ~ 0.19. The substitution induces chemical pressure that drives the materials to a zero-field quantum critical point. This leads to an additional enhancement of the magnetocaloric effect in low fields and low temperatures, enabling final temperatures well below 100 mK. This performance has, up to now, been restricted to insulators. For nearly a century, the same principle of using local magnetic moments has been applied for adiabatic demagnetization cooling. This study opens new possibilities of using itinerant magnetic moments for cryogen-free refrigeration.

Bilayer strontium ruthenate Sr_{3}Ru_{2}O_{7} displays pronounced non-Fermi liquid behavior at magnetic fields around 8 T, applied perpendicular to the ruthenate planes, which previously has been associated with an itinerant metamagnetic quantum critical end point (QCEP). We focus on the magnetic Gruneisen parameter Γ_{H}, which is the most direct probe to characterize field-induced quantum criticality. We confirm quantum critical scaling due to a putative two-dimensional QCEP near 7.845(5) T, which is masked by two ordered phases A and B, identified previously by neutron scattering. In addition, we find evidence for a QCEP at 7.53(2) T and determine the quantum critical regimes of both instabilities and the effect of their superposition.

The effects of reduced dimensions and the interfaces on antiferromagnetic quantum criticality are studied in epitaxial Kondo superlattices, with alternating n layers of heavy-fermion antiferromagnet CeRhIn_{5} and seven layers of normal metal YbRhIn_{5}. As n is reduced, the Kondo coherence temperature is suppressed due to the reduction of effective Kondo screening. The Neel temperature is gradually suppressed as n decreases and the quasiparticle mass is strongly enhanced, implying dimensional control toward a quantum critical point. Magnetotransport measurements reveal that a quantum critical point is reached for the n=3 superlattice by applying small magnetic fields. Remarkably, the anisotropy of the quantum critical field is opposite to the expectations from the magnetic susceptibility in bulk CeRhIn_{5}, suggesting that the Rashba spin-orbit interaction arising from the inversion symmetry breaking at the interface plays a key role for tuning the quantum criticality in the two-dimensional Kondo lattice.

The low-energy elementary excitations in frustrated quantum magnets have fascinated researchers for decades. In frustrated Ising magnets on a pyrochlore lattice possessing macroscopically degenerate spin-ice ground states, the excitations have been discussed in terms of classical magnetic monopoles, which do not contain quantum fluctuations. Here we report unusual behaviours of magneto-thermal conductivity in the disordered spin-liquid regime of pyrochlore Yb2Ti2O7, which hosts frustrated spin-ice correlations with large quantum fluctuations owing to pseudospin-1/2 of Yb ions. The analysis of the temperature and magnetic field dependencies shows the presence of gapped elementary excitations. We find that the gap energy is largely suppressed from that expected in classical monopoles. Moreover, these excitations propagate a long distance without being scattered, in contrast to the diffusive nature of classical monopoles. These results suggests the emergence of highly itinerant quantum magnetic monopole, which is a heavy quasiparticle that propagates coherently in three-dimensional spin liquids., Spin excitations above the ground state of spin ices, geometrically frustrated pyrochlore magnets, are equivalent to pairs of oppositely charged deconfined magnetic monopoles which may propagate through the system. Here, the authors evidence highly itinerant quantum magnetic monopole excitations in Yb2Ti2O7.

We report specific heat, magnetocaloric effect and magnetization measurements on single crystals of the frustrated quasi-2D spin -½ antiferromagnet Cs2CuCl4 in the external magnetic field 0≤B≤12 T along a-axis and in the temperature range 0.03 K≤T≤6 K. Decreasing the applied magnetic field B from high fields leads to the closure of the field induced gap in the magnon spectrum at a critical field Bc8.44 T and a long-range incommensurate state below Bc. In the vicinity of Bc, the phase transition boundary is well described by the power law TN~(Bc-B)1/ with the measured critical exponent 1.5. These findings provide experimental evidence that the scaling law of the transition temperature TN can be described by the universality class of 3D Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) of magnons.

Thermodynamic measurements on the Kondo lattice CeRhSn indicate a quantun critical point driven by geometrical frustration., Geometrical frustration describes situations where interactions are incompatible with the lattice geometry and stabilizes exotic phases such as spin liquids. Whether geometrical frustration of magnetic interactions in metals can induce unconventional quantum critical points is an active area of research. We focus on the hexagonal heavy fermion metal CeRhSn, where the Kondo ions are located on distorted kagome planes stacked along the c axis. Low-temperature specific heat, thermal expansion, and magnetic Grüneisen parameter measurements prove a zero-field quantum critical point. The linear thermal expansion, which measures the initial uniaxial pressure derivative of the entropy, displays a striking anisotropy. Critical and noncritical behaviors along and perpendicular to the kagome planes, respectively, prove that quantum criticality is driven be geometrical frustration. We also discovered a spin flop–type metamagnetic crossover. This excludes an itinerant scenario and suggests that quantum criticality is related to local moments in a spin liquid–like state.

UX 3 (X=Si, Ge, Sn and Pb) compounds with the cubic crystal structure are interesting in relation with the lattice constant and the electronic state of 5 f electrons.We measured the high-field magnetization of USn 3 and UPb 3 grown by the self-flux method.The broad metamagnetic transition was observed in a heavy fermion paramagnetic compound USn 3 at about 30 T, which is similar to the metamagnetism of UPt 3 . On the other hand, the sharp metamagnetic transitions were observed in an antiferromagnetic compound UPb 3 .

There is growing evidence that the superconducting semimetal FeSe ($T_c\sim8$ K) is in the crossover regime between weak-coupling Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) and strong-coupling Bose-Einstein-condensate (BEC) limits. We report on longitudinal and transverse thermal conductivities, $\kappa_{xx}$ and $\kappa_{xy}$, respectively, in magnetic fields up to 20 T. The field dependences of $\kappa_{xx}$ and $\kappa_{xy}$ imply that a highly anisotropic small superconducting gap forms at the electron Fermi-surface pocket whereas a more isotropic and larger gap forms at the hole pocket. Below $\sim1.0$ K, both $\kappa_{xx}$ and $\kappa_{xy}$ exhibit distinct anomalies (kinks) at the upper critical field $H_{c2}$ and at a field $H^*$ slightly below $H_{c2}$. The analysis of the thermal Hall angle ($\kappa_{xy}/\kappa_{xx}$) indicates a change of the quasiparticle scattering rate at $H^*$. These results provide strong support to the previous suggestion that above $H^*$ a distinct field-induced superconducting phase emerges with an unprecedented large spin imbalance., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to be published in JPSJ

We have prepared high-quality epitaxial thin films of CaRuO$_3$ with residual resistivity ratios up to 55. Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in the magnetoresistance and a $T^2$ temperature dependence in the electrical resistivity only below 1.5 K, whose coefficient is substantially suppressed in large magnetic fields, establish CaRuO$_3$ as a Fermi liquid (FL) with anomalously low coherence scale. Non-Fermi liquid (NFL) $T^{3/2}$ dependence is found between 2 and 25 K. The high sample quality allows access to the intrinsic electronic properties via THz spectroscopy. For frequencies below 0.6 THz, the conductivity is Drude-like and can be modeled by FL concepts, while for higher frequencies non-Drude behavior, inconsistent with FL predictions, is found. This establishes CaRuO$_3$ as a prime example of optical NFL behavior in the THz range.

When magnetic order is suppressed by frustrated interactions, spins form a highly correlated fluctuating "spin liquid" state down to low temperatures. Magnetic order of local moments can also be suppressed when they are fully screened by conduction electrons through the Kondo effect. Thus, the combination of strong geometrical frustration and Kondo screening may lead to novel types of quantum phase transitions. We report low-temperature thermodynamic measurements on the frustrated Kondo lattice Pr$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$, which displays a chiral spin liquid state below 1.5 K due to the frustrated interaction between Ising 4f local moments and their interplay with Ir conduction electrons. Our results provide a first clear example of zero-field quantum critical scaling that emerges in a spin liquid state of a highly frustrated metal., Comment: to be published in Nature Materials

Na${}_{4}$Ir${}_{3}$O${}_{8}$ is a candidate material for a three-dimensional quantum spin liquid on the hyperkagome lattice. We present thermodynamic measurements of heat capacity $C$ and thermal conductivity $\ensuremath{\kappa}$ on high-quality polycrystalline samples of Na${}_{4}$Ir${}_{3}$O${}_{8}$ down to $T=500$ and 75 mK, respectively. Absence of long-range magnetic order down to $T=75$ mK strongly supports claims of a spin-liquid ground state. The constant magnetic susceptibility $\ensuremath{\chi}$ below $T\ensuremath{\approx}25$ K and the presence of a small but finite linear-$T$ term in $C(T)$ suggest the presence of gapless spin excitations. Additionally, the magnetic Gr$\stackrel{\ifmmode \ddot{}\else \"{}\fi{}}{\mathrm{u}}$neisen ratio shows a divergence as $T\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ K and a scaling behavior, which clearly demonstrates that Na${}_{4}$Ir${}_{3}$O${}_{8}$ is situated close to a zero-field QCP.

We grew a single crystal of UB 4 with the tetragonal structure and carried out the magnetoresistance and de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) experiments. The magnetoresistance data indicate that UB 4 , which is a compensated metal with equal carrier numbers of electrons and holes, most likely has open orbits along the [100] and [010] directions. We detected about eleven dHvA branches. The cyclotron masses are moderately heavy, ranging from 3.0 to 14.1 m 0 , reflecting the electronic specific heat coefficient of 24.9 mJ/K 2 ·mol.

We have succeeded in growing a high-quality single crystal of URu2Si2 with a residual resistivity ratio of 255 and performed magnetoresistance and de Haas–van Alphen (dHvA) experiments. The dHvA oscillations were observed clearly in both the normal and superconducting mixed states. From the magnetoresistance experiments, it is concluded that URu2Si2 is a compensated metal with equal carrier numbers of electrons and holes. In the dHvA experiments we observed three kinds of Fermi surfaces. We studied precisely the Fermi surface properties in both the normal and mixed states. The dHvA frequency does not change in magnitude between the normal and mixed states, while the cyclotron effective mass is reduced, and the corresponding Dingle temperature or scattering rate of the conduction electron increases in the mixed state.

We report measurements of the electrical and thermal transport on the hexagonal heavy-fermion metal YbAgGe for temperatures $T\geq$ 40 mK and in magnetic fields $H\parallel ab$ up to 14 T. This distorted Kagome-lattice system displays a series of magnetic states and a quantum critical point at $H_c =4.5$ T. The Lorenz ratio $L(T)/L_0$ displays a marked reduction only close to $H_c$. A $T$-linear contribution below 120 mK, present at all different fields, allows to extrapolate the Lorenz ratio towards T=0. At the critical field this yields $L/L_0=0.92\pm 0.03$, suggesting a violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law due to strong inelastic scattering., 7 pages including supplemental material

Quantum criticality in the normal and superconducting state of the heavy-fermion metal CeCoIn$_5$ is studied by measurements of the magnetic Gr\"{u}neisen ratio, $\Gamma_H$, and specific heat in different field orientations and temperatures down to 50 mK. Universal temperature over magnetic field scaling of $\Gamma_H$ in the normal state indicates a hidden quantum critical point at zero field. Within the superconducting state the quasiparticle entropy at constant temperature increases upon reducing the field towards zero, providing additional evidence for zero-field quantum criticality., Comment: submitted to PRL

Bicritical points, at which two distinct symmetry-broken phases become simultaneously unstable, are typical for spin-flop metamagnetism. Interestingly, the heavy-fermion compound YbAgGe also possesses such a bicritical point (BCP) with a low temperature T_BCP ~ 0.3 K at a magnetic field of mu_0 H_BCP ~ 4.5 T. In its vicinity, YbAgGe exhibits anomalous behavior that we attribute to the influence of a quantum bicritical point (QBCP), that is close in parameter space yet can be reached by tuning T_BCP further to zero. Using high-resolution measurements of the magnetocaloric effect, we demonstrate that the magnetic Grueneisen parameter Gamma_H indeed both changes sign and diverges as required for quantum criticality. Moreover, Gamma_H displays a characteristic scaling behavior but only on the low-field side, H < H_BCP, indicating a pronounced asymmetry with respect to the critical field. We speculate that the small value of T_BCP is related to the geometric frustration of the Kondo-lattice of YbAgGe., submitted to PRL

The interplay between superconductivity and Eu${}^{2+}$ magnetic moments in EuFe${}_{2}$(As${}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}$P${}_{x}$)${}_{2}$ is studied with electrical resistivity measurements under hydrostatic pressure on $x=0.13$ and $x=0.18$ single crystals. We can map hydrostatic pressure to chemical pressure $x$ and show that superconductivity is confined to a very narrow range $0.18\ensuremath{\le}x\ensuremath{\le}0.23$ in the phase diagram, beyond which ferromagnetic (FM) Eu ordering suppresses superconductivity. The change from antiferro- to FM Eu ordering at the latter concentration coincides with a Lifshitz transition and the complete depression of iron magnetic order.

To study the superconducting gap structure of BiS$_2$-based layered compound NdO$_{0.71}$F$_{0.29}$BiS$_{2}$ ($T$$_{\rm c}$ = 5 K), we measured the thermal conductivity $\kappa$, which is a sensitive probe of the low-energy quasiparticle spectrum. In the absence of a magnetic field, there is only a very small residual linear term in the thermal conductivity $\kappa_{0}$/$T$ at $T$ $\rightarrow$ 0, indicating the absence of a residual normal fluid, expected for nodal superconductors. Moreover, the applied magnetic field hardly affects the thermal conductivity in the wide range of the vortex state, indicating the absence of Doppler shifted quasiparticles. These results provide evidence that NdO$_{0.71}$F$_{0.29}$BiS$_{2}$ is fully gapped superconductor. The obtained gap structure, along with the robustness of the superconductivity against the impurity, suggest a conventional $s$-wave superconducting state in NdO$_{0.71}$F$_{0.29}$BiS$_{2}$., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

The heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn$_5$ displays an additional transition within its superconducting (SC) state, whose nature is characterized by high-precision studies of the isothermal field dependence of the entropy, derived from combined specific heat and magnetocaloric effect measurements at temperatures $T\geq 100$ mK and fields $H\leq 12$ T aligned parallel, perpendicular and $18^\circ$ off the tetragonal [100] direction. For any of these conditions, we do not observe an additional entropy contribution upon tuning at constant temperature by magnetic field from the homogeneous SC into the presumed Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) SC state. By contrast, for $H\parallel [100]$ a negative isothermal entropy contribution, compatible with spin-density-wave (SDW) ordering, is found. Our data exclude the formation of a FFLO state in CeCoIn$_5$ for out-of-plane field directions, where no SDW order exists.

We present the quasi-two-dimensional Fermi surface studies in RTIn5 (R: rare earth, T: Co, Rh and Ir), together with UTGa5. The present quasi-two dimensionality is closely related to the unique crystal structure elongated along the [0 0 1] direction, which brings about a flat Brillouin zone and produces cylindrical but highly corrugated Fermi surfaces along [0 0 1] .

We report low-temperature specific-heat measurements in magnetic fields up to 12 T applied parallel and perpendicular to the tetragonal $c$ axis of the heavy fermion superconductor Ce${}_{2}$PdIn${}_{8}$. In contrast to its quasi-two-dimensional (2D) relative CeCoIn${}_{5}$, the system displays an almost isotropic upper critical field. While there is no indication for a high-field and low-temperature phase in Ce${}_{2}$PdIn${}_{8}$, the data suggest a smeared weak first-order superconducting transition close to ${H}_{c2}\ensuremath{\approx}2$ T. The normal-state electronic specific-heat coefficient displays logarithmically divergent behavior, comparable to CeCoIn${}_{5}$ and in agreement with 2D quantum criticality of spin-density-wave type.

The magnetocaloric effect or "magnetic Grüneisen ratio" Γ(H)=T(-1)(dT/dH)(S) quantifies the cooling or heating of a material when an applied magnetic field is changed under adiabatic conditions. Recently, this property has attracted considerable interest in the field of quantum criticality. Here, we report the development of a low-frequency alternating-field technique for measurements of the magnetocaloric effect down to very low temperatures, which is an important property for the study of quantum critical points. We focus, in particular, on highly conducting metallic samples and discuss the influence of eddy current heating. By comparison with magnetization and specific heat measurements, we demonstrate that our fast and accurate technique gives quantitatively correct values for the magnetocaloric effect under truly adiabatic conditions.

Two quantum critical point (QCP) scenarios are being discussed for different classes of antiferromagnetic (AF) heavy-fermion (HF) systems. In the itinerant one, where AF order is of the spin-density wave (SDW) type, the heavy 'composite' charge carriers keep their integrity at the QCP. The second one implies a breakdown of the Kondo effect and a disintegration of the composite fermions at the AF QCP. We discuss two isostructural compounds as exemplary materials for these two different scenarios: CeCu(2)Si(2) exhibits a three-dimensional (3D) SDW QCP and superconductivity, presumably mediated by SDW fluctuations, as strongly suggested by recent inelastic neutron scattering experiments. In Y bRh(2)Si(2), the AF QCP is found to coincide with a Kondo-destroying one. However, in the latter compound these two QCPs can be detached by varying the average unit-cell volume, e.g. through the application of chemical pressure, as realized by partial substitution of either Ir or Co for Rh. A comparison of CeCu(2)Si(2) and Y bRh(2)Si(2) indicates that the apparent differences in quantum critical behaviour go along with disparate behaviour concerning the (non-) existence of superconductivity (SC). No sign of SC could be detected in Y bRh(2)Si(2) down to mK temperatures. A potential correlation between the specific nature of the QCP and the occurrence of SC, however, requires detailed studies on further quantum critical HF superconductors, e.g. on β-Y bAlB(4), UBe(13), CeCoIn(5) and CeRhIn(5).