429 research outputs found
Unusual Single-Ion Non-Fermi Liquid Behavior in Ce_(1-x)La_xNi_9Ge_4
We report on specific heat, magnetic susceptibility and resistivity
measurements on the compound Ce_(1-x)La_xNi_9Ge_4 for various concentrations
ranging from the stoichiometric system with x=0 to the dilute limit x=0.95. Our
data reveal single-ion scaling with the Ce-concentration and the largest ever
recorded value of the electronic specific heat c/T approximately 5.5 J
K^(-2)mol^(-1) at T=0.08K for the stoichiometric compound x=0 without any trace
of magnetic order. While in the doped samples c/T increases logarithmically
below 3K down to 50mK, their magnetic susceptibility behaves Fermi liquid like
below 1K. These properties make the compound Ce_(1-x)La_xNi_9Ge_4 a unique
system on the borderline between Fermi liquid and non-Fermi liquid physics.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures; v2 contains additional resisitivity measurements;
final version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Interpretation of experimental results on Kondo systems with crystal field
We present a simple approach to calculate the thermodynamic properties of
single Kondo impurities including orbital degeneracy and crystal field effects
(CFE) by extending a previous proposal by K. D. Schotte and U. Schotte [Physics
Lett. A 55, 38 (1975)]. Comparison with exact solutions for the specific heat
of a quartet ground state split into two doublets shows deviations below
in absence of CFE and a quantitative agreement for moderate or large CFE. As an
application, we fit the measured specific heat of the compounds CeCuGe,
CePdSi, CePdAl, CePt, YbPdSn and YbCoZn. The
agreement between theory and experiment is very good or excellent depending on
the compound, except at very low temperatures due to the presence of magnetic
correlations (not accounted in the model)
Quantum Criticality in doped CePd_1-xRh_x Ferromagnet
CePd_1-xRh_x alloys exhibit a continuous evolution from ferromagnetism (T_C=
6.5 K) at x = 0 to a mixed valence (MV) state at x = 1. We have performed a
detailed investigation on the suppression of the ferromagnetic (F) phase in
this alloy using dc-(\chi_dc) and ac-susceptibility (\chi_ac), specific heat
(C_m), resistivity (\rho) and thermal expansion (\beta) techniques. Our results
show a continuous decrease of T_C (x) with negative curvature down to T_C = 3K
at x*= 0.65, where a positive curvature takes over. Beyond x*, a cusp in cac is
traced down to T_C* = 25 mK at x = 0.87, locating the critical concentration
between x = 0.87 and 0.90. The quantum criticality of this region is recognized
by the -log(T/T_0) dependence of C_m/T, which transforms into a T^-q (~0.5) one
at x = 0.87. At high temperature, this system shows the onset of valence
instability revealed by a deviation from Vegard's law (at x_V~0.75) and
increasing hybridization effects on high temperature \chi_dc and \rho.
Coincidentally, a Fermi liquid contribution to the specific heat arises from
the MV component, which becomes dominant at the CeRh limit. In contrast to
antiferromagnetic systems, no C_m/T flattening is observed for x > x_cr rather
the mentioned power law divergence, which coincides with a change of sign of
\beta. The coexistence of F and MV components and the sudden changes in the T
dependencies are discussed in the context of randomly distributed magnetic and
Kondo couplings.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure
Thermodynamic analysis of the Quantum Critical behavior of Ce-lattice compounds
A systematic analysis of low temperature magnetic phase diagrams of Ce
compounds is performed in order to recognize the thermodynamic conditions to be
fulfilled by those systems to reach a quantum critical regime and,
alternatively, to identify other kinds of low temperature behaviors. Based on
specific heat () and entropy () results, three different types of
phase diagrams are recognized: i) with the entropy involved into the ordered
phase () decreasing proportionally to the ordering temperature
(), ii) those showing a transference of degrees of freedom from the
ordered phase to a non-magnetic component, with their jump
() vanishing at finite temperature, and iii) those ending in a
critical point at finite temperature because their do not decrease
with producing an entropy accumulation at low temperature.
Only those systems belonging to the first case, i.e. with as
, can be regarded as candidates for quantum critical behavior.
Their magnetic phase boundaries deviate from the classical negative curvature
below \,K, denouncing frequent misleading extrapolations down to
T=0. Different characteristic concentrations are recognized and analyzed for
Ce-ligand alloyed systems. Particularly, a pre-critical region is identified,
where the nature of the magnetic transition undergoes significant
modifications, with its discontinuity strongly
affected by magnetic field and showing an increasing remnant entropy at . Physical constraints arising from the third law at are discussed
and recognized from experimental results
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