Antiferromagnetic correlations in strongly valence fluctuating CeIrSn

Abstract

CeIrSn with a quasikagome Ce lattice in the hexagonal basal plane is a strongly valence fluctuating compound, as we confirm by hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and inelastic neutron scattering, with a high Kondo temperature of $T_{\mathrm{K}}\sim 480$\,K. We report a negative in-plane thermal expansion $\alpha /T$ below 2\,K, which passes through a broad minimum near 0.75\,K. Volume and $a$-axis magnetostriction for $B\parallel a$ are markedly negative at low fields and change sign before a sharp metamagnetic anomaly at 6\,T. These behaviors are unexpected for Ce-based intermediate valence systems, which should feature positive expansivity. Rather they point towards antiferromagnetic correlations at very low temperatures. This is supported by muon spin relaxation measurements down to 0.1\,K, which provide microscopic evidence for a broad distribution of internal magnetic fields. Comparison with isostructural CeRhSn suggests that these antiferromagnetic correlations emerging at $T\ll T_{\mathrm{K}}$ result from geometrical frustration.

to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett

References in corpus (6)

• Characteristic signatures of quantum criticality driven by geometrical frustration
• Heavy fermions in high magnetic field
• Quantum criticality in the cubic heavy-fermion system CeIn_{3-x}Sn_x
• Uniaxial stress tuning of geometrical frustration in a Kondo lattice
• Quantitative study of valence and configuration interaction parameters of the Kondo semiconductors CeM2Al10 (M = Ru, Os and Fe) by means of bulk-sensitive hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• Quantum criticality in layered CeRhIn_{5-x}Sn_x compared with cubic CeIn$_{3-x}Sn_x

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• Nodeless superconductivity in noncentrosymmetric LaRhSn
• Quantifying the U $5f$ covalence and degree of localization in U intermetallics
• Frustration-induced quantum criticality in Ni-doped CePdAl as revealed by the $\mu$SR technique
• Quantitative investigation of the 4$f$ occupation in the quasikagome Kondo lattice CeRh${}_{1-x}$Pd${}_x$Sn
• Microscopic evidence of a field-induced critical spin-liquid state in a frustrated metal
• Rotational Grüneisen ratio: a probe for quantum criticality in anisotropic systems