Evolution of the Kondo lattice and non-Fermi liquid excitations in a heavy-fermion metal

Abstract

Strong electron correlations can give rise to extraordinary properties of metals with renormalized quasiparticles which are at the basis of Landau's Fermi liquid theory. Near a quantum critical point, these quasiparticles can be destroyed and non-Fermi liquid behavior ensues. YbRh${}_2$Si${}_2$ is a prototypical correlated metal as it exhibits quasiparticles formation, formation of Kondo lattice coherence and quasiparticle destruction at a field-induced quantum critical point. Here we show how, upon lowering the temperature, the Kondo lattice coherence develops and finally gives way to non-Fermi liquid electronic excitations. By measuring the single-particle excitations through scanning tunneling spectroscopy down to 0.3 K, we find the Kondo lattice peak emerging below the Kondo temperature $T_{\mathrm{K}}\sim$ 25 K, yet this peak displays a non-trivial temperature dependence with a strong increase around 3.3 K. At the lowest temperature and as a function of an external magnetic field, the width of this peak is minimized in the quantum critical regime. Our results provide a striking demonstration of the non-Fermi liquid electronic excitations in quantum critical metals, thereby elucidating the strange-metal phenomena that have been ubiquitously observed in strongly correlated electron materials.

7 pages, 5 figures

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• Flat bands and the physics of strongly correlated Fermi systems
• Critical slowing down of fermions near a magnetic quantum phase transition
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• Terahertz Conductivity of Heavy-fermion Systems from Time-resolved Spectroscopy
• Artificial heavy fermions in a van der Waals heterostructure
• Perspective: imaging atomic step geometry to determine surface terminations of kagome materials and beyond
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• Tuning low-energy scales in YbRh${}_2$Si${}_2$ by non-isoelectronic substitution and pressure
• Quantum impurity model for two-stage multipolar ordering and Fermi surface reconstruction
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• CeCu${}_2$Si${}_2$ and YbRh${}_2$Si${}_2$: Strange Cases of Heavy-Fermion Superconductivity
• Quantum Phase Transition in $\mathrm{CeCoI}{\mathrm{n}}_5$: Experimental Facts and Theory
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