Detailed optical spectroscopy of the hybridization gap and the hidden order transition in high quality URu${}_2$Si${}_2$ single crystals

Abstract

We present a detailed temperature and frequency dependence of the optical conductivity measured on clean high quality single crystals of URu${}_2$Si${}_2$ of $ac$- and $ab$-plane surfaces. Our data demonstrate the itinerant character of the narrow 5f bands, becoming progressively coherent as temperature is lowered below a cross-over temperature $T^{\ast }\sim 75K$. $T^{\ast }$ is higher than in previous reports as a result of a different sample preparation, which minimizes residual strain. We furthermore present the density-response (energy-loss) function of this compound, and determine the energies of the heavy fermion plasmons with $a$-and $c$-axis polarization. Our observation of a suppression of optical conductivity below 50~meV both along $a$ and $c$-axis, along with a heavy fermion plasmon at 18~meV, points toward the emergence of a band of coherent charge carriers crossing the Fermi energy and the emergence of a hybridization gap on part of the Fermi surface. The evolution towards coherent itinerant states is accelerated below the hidden order temperature $T_{HO}=17.5$~K. In the hidden order phase the low frequency optical conductivity shows a single gap at $\sim 6.5$meV, which closes at $T_{HO}$.

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References in corpus (13)

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• Observation of Multiple-Gap Structure in Hidden Order State of URu2Si2 from Optical Conductivity

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Hidden order and beyond: an experimental-theoretical overview of the multifaceted behavior of URu${}_2$Si${}_2$
• Electronic properties of a heavy-fermion U(Ru0.92Rh0.08)2Si2 single crystal
• Origin of gap-like behaviors in URu${}_2$Si${}_2$: Combined study via quasiparticle scattering spectroscopy and resistivity measurements
• Quasiparticle Relaxation Dynamics in URu${}_{2-x}$Fe${}_x$Si${}_2$ Single Crystals