Experimental observation of temperature and magnetic-field evolution of the 4 states in CeFe revealed by soft X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Saito, Yuji  ; Yasui, Akira*; Fuchimoto, Hiroto*; Nakatani, Yasuhiro*; Fujiwara, Hidenori*; Imada, Shin*; Narumi, Yasuo*; Kindo, Koichi*; Takahashi, Minoru*; Ebihara, Takao*; Sekiyama, Akira*

We revisit the delocalized character of the 4 states of CeFe in the ferromagnetically ordered phase by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) in X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) with improved data quality using single crystals. Surprisingly, the Ce XMCD spectral shape changes significantly as a function of temperature and applied magnetic field, with no concomitant changes in the spectral shape of the Ce XAS as well as the Fe XAS and XMCD. This unusual behavior is characterized by the states in a 4 configuration mixed into the ground state. Such extreme sensitivity of the Ce 4 states to the external perturbations can be related to the magnetic instability toward an antiferromagnetic phase in CeFe. Our experimental data presented here provide valuable insights into the underlying physics in strongly-hybridized ferromagnetic Ce compounds.