Yb-Yb correlations and crystal-field effects in the Kondo insulator YbB12 and its solid solutions

We have studied the effect of Lu substitution on the spin dynamics of the Kondo insulator YbB12 to clarify the origin of the spin-gap response previously observed at low temperature in this material. Inelastic neutron spectra have been measured in Yb1-xLuxB12 compounds for four Lu concentrations x = 0, 0.25, 0.90 and 1.0. The data indicate that the disruption of coherence on the Yb sublattice primarily affects the narrow peak structure occurring near 15-20 meV in pure YbB12, whereas the spin gap and the broad magnetic signal around 38 meV remain almost unaffected. It is inferred that the latter features reflect mainly local, single-site processes, and may be reminiscent of the inelastic magnetic response reported for mixed-valence intermetallic compounds. On the other hand, the lower component at 15 meV is most likely due to dynamic short-range magnetic correlations. The crystal-field splitting in YbB12 estimated from the Er3+ transitions measured in a Yb0.9Er0.1B12 sample, has the same order of magnitude as other relevant energy scales of the system and is thus likely to play a role in the form of the magnetic spectral response.Comment: 16 pages in pdf format, 9 figures. v. 2: coauthor list updated; extra details given in section 3.2 (pp. 6-7); one reference added; fig. 5 axis label change

Magnetic spectral response and lattice properties in mixed-valence Sm1−xYxSSm_{1-x}Y_{x}S solid solutions studied with x-ray diffraction, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and inelastic neutron scattering

Submitted to Phys. Rev; B (14 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables)Mixed-valence phenomena occurring in the "black" (B) and "gold" (G) phases of Sm1-x Yx S have been studied by x-ray diffraction, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and inelastic neutron scattering. Lattice-constant and phonon-dispersion results confirm that the valence instability occurs already inside the B phase. On the other hand, pronounced temperature anomalies in the thermal expansion \alpha(T ), as well as in the Sm mean-square displacements denote the onset of the B-G transition for the compositions x = 0.33 and 0.45. It is argued that these anomalies primarily denote an effect of electron-phonon coupling. The magnetic spectral response, measured on both powder and single crystals, is dominated by the Sm2+ spin-orbit component close to 36 meV. A strongly overdamped Sm3+ contribution appears only for x >= 0.33 near room-temperature. The quasielastic signal is strongly suppressed below 70 K, reflecting the formation of the singlet mixed-valence ground state. Quite remarkably, the signal around 36 meV is found, from the single-crystal spectra, to arise from two distinct, dispersive, interacting branches. The lower peak, confirmed to exist from x = 0.17 to x = 0.33 at least, is tentatively ascribed to an excitation specific to the mixed-valence regime, reminiscent of the "exciton" peak reported previously for SmB6