Electronic inhomogeneity in a Kondo lattice

近藤格子における不均一な電子

Bauer, E. D.*; Yang, Y.-F.*; Capan, C.*; Urbano, R. R.*; Miclea, C. F.*; 酒井 宏典   ; Ronning, F.*; Graf, M. J.*; Balatsky, A. V.*; Movshovich, R.*; Bianchi, A. D.*; Reyes, A. P.*; Kuhns, P. L.*; Thompson, J. D.*; Fisk, Z.*

Bauer, E. D.*; Yang, Y.-F.*; Capan, C.*; Urbano, R. R.*; Miclea, C. F.*; Sakai, Hironori; Ronning, F.*; Graf, M. J.*; Balatsky, A. V.*; Movshovich, R.*; Bianchi, A. D.*; Reyes, A. P.*; Kuhns, P. L.*; Thompson, J. D.*; Fisk, Z.*

強相関電子系CeCoInを例に、不均一な電子状態を例示する。熱力学的物理量と核四重極共鳴測定とを組合せて超伝導状態を解析した。非磁性不純物(Y, La, Yb, Th, Hg, Sn)の置換によって、Kondo格子の不完全性に由来する『スイスチーズ』様の不均一な電子状態を作り出すことにより、局所的に超伝導を抑制できる。一般近藤格子における物理を理解するには、この不均一な電子状態を考察する必要がある。

Here, we report a manifestation of electronic inhomogeneity in a strongly correlated -electron system, using CeCoIn as an example. A thermodynamic analysis of its superconductivity, combined with nuclear quadrupole resonance measurements, shows that nonmagnetic impurities (Y, La, Yb, Th, Hg, and Sn) locally suppress unconventional superconductivity, generating an inhomogeneous electronic "Swiss cheese" due to disrupted periodicity of the Kondo lattice. Our analysis may be generalized to include related systems, suggesting that electronic inhomogeneity should be considered broadly in Kondo lattice materials.