Ferromagnetic crossover within the ferromagnetic order of UTe

Opletal, P.; Sakai, Hironori; Haga, Yoshinori; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Yamamoto, Etsuji; Kambe, Shinsaku; Tokunaga, Yo

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 92(3), p.034704_1 - 034704_5, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.92.034704

We investigate the physical properties of a single crystal of uranium telluride UTe. We have confirmed that UTe crystallizes in the hexagonal structure with three nonequivalent crystallographic uranium sites. The paramagnetic moments are estimated to be approximately 1 per the uranium site, assuming a uniform moment on all the sites. A ferromagnetic phase transition occurs at = 48 K, where the in-plane magnetization increases sharply, whereas the out of-plane component does not increase significantly. With decreasing temperature further below under field-cooling conditions, the out-of-plane component increases rapidly around T= 26 K. In contrast, the in-plane component hardly changes at T. Specific heat measurement indicates no -type anomaly around T, so this is a cross-over suggesting a reorientation of the ordering moments or successive magnetic ordering on the part of the multiple uranium sites.

Structural 130 K phase transition and emergence of a two-ion Kondo state in CeRhGa explored by Ga nuclear quadrupole resonance

Yamamoto, Shingo*; Fujii, Takuto*; Luther, S.*; Yasuoka, Hiroshi*; Sakai, Hironori; Brtl, F.*; Ranjith, K. M.*; Rosner, H.*; Wosnitza, J.*; Strydom, A. M.*; et al.

Physical Review B, 106(11), p.115125_1 - 115125_5, 2022/09

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.115125

We have studied the microscopic magnetic properties, the nature of the 130 K phase transition, and the ground state in the recently synthesized compound CeRhGa by use of Ga nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR). The NQR spectra clearly show an unusual phase transition at K, yielding a splitting of the high-temperature single NQR line into two well-resolved NQR lines, providing evidence for two crystallographically inequivalent Ga sites. The NQR frequencies are in good agreement with fully relativistic calculations of the band structure. Our NQR results indicate the absence of magnetic or charge order down to 0.3 K. The temperature dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation rate shows three distinct regimes, with onset temperatures at and 2 K. The temperature-independent , observed between and 2 K, crosses over to a Korringa process, , below 2 K, which evidences a rare two-ion Kondo scenario: The system evolves into a dense Kondo coherent state below 2.0 and 0.8 K probed by the two different Ga sites.

Single crystal growth of superconducting UTe by molten salt flux method

Sakai, Hironori; Opletal, P.; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Yamamoto, Etsuji; Tokunaga, Yo; Kambe, Shinsaku; Haga, Yoshinori

Physical Review Materials (Internet), 6(7), p.073401_1 - 073401_10, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.6.073401

The molten salt flux method is applied as a new synthetic route for the single crystals of the spin-triplet superconductor UTe. The single crystals under an optimized growth condition with excess uranium exhibit a superconducting transition at K, which is the highest reported for this compound. The obtained crystals show a remarkably large residual resistivity ratio with respect to the room temperature value and a small residual electronic contribution in specific heat well below . These results indicate that the increase of in UTe can be achieved by reducing the disorder associated with uranium vacancies. The excess uranium in the molten salt acts as a reducing agent, preventing tetravalent uranium from becoming pentavalent and suppressing creation of uranium vacancies. At the same time, the relatively low growth temperature can suppress Te volatilization.

Effect of uranium deficiency on normal and superconducting properties in unconventional superconductor UTe

Haga, Yoshinori; Opletal, P.; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Yamamoto, Etsuji; Tokunaga, Yo; Kambe, Shinsaku; Sakai, Hironori

Journal of Physics; Condensed Matter, 34(17), p.175601_1 - 175601_7, 2022/04

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/ac5201

Slow electronic dynamics in the paramagnetic state of UTe

Tokunaga, Yo; Sakai, Hironori; Kambe, Shinsaku; Haga, Yoshinori; Tokiwa, Yoshifumi; Opletal, P.; Fujibayashi, Hiroyuki*; Kinjo, Katsuki*; Kitagawa, Shunsaku*; Ishida, Kenji*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 91(2), p.023707_1 - 023707_5, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.91.023707

Te NMR experiments in field () applied along the easy magnetization axis (the -axis) revealed slow electronic dynamics developing in the paramagnetic state of UTe. The observed slow fluctuations are concerned with a successive growth of long-range electronic correlations below 3040 K, where the spin susceptibility along the hard magnetization axis (the -axis) shows a broad maximum. The experiments also imply that tiny amounts of disorder or defects locally disturb the long-range electronic correlations and develop an inhomogeneous electronic state at low temperatures, leading to a low temperature upturn observed in the bulk-susceptibility in . We suggest that UTe would be located on the paramagnetic side near an electronic phase boundary, where either the magnetic or Fermi-surface instability would be the origin of the characteristic fluctuations.

Nanoscale heterogeneity induced by nonmagnetic Zn dopants in the quantum critical metal CeCoIn; In NQR/NMR and Co NMR study

Sakai, Hironori; Tokunaga, Yo; Kambe, Shinsaku; Zhu, J.-X.*; Ronning, F.*; Thompson, J. D.*; Ramakrishna, S. K.*; Reyes, A. P.*; Suzuki, Kohei*; Oshima, Yoshiki*; et al.

Physical Review B, 104(8), p.085106_1 - 085106_12, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.104.085106

Antiferromagnetism in a prototypical quantum critical metal CeCoIn is known to be induced by slight substitutions of non-magnetic Zn atoms for In. In nominally 7% Zn substituted CeCoIn, an antiferromagnetic (AFM) state coexists with heavy fermion superconductivity. Heterogeneity of the electronic states is investigated in Zn doped CeCoIn by means of nuclear quadrupole and magnetic resonances (NQR and NMR). Site-dependent NQR relaxation rates indicate that the AFM state is locally nucleated around Zn substituents in the matrix of a heavy fermion state, and percolates through the bulk at the AFM transition temperature . At lower temperatures, an anisotropic superconducting (SC) gap below the SC transition temperature , and the SC state permeates through the AFM regions via a SC proximity effect. Applying an external magnetic field induces a spin-flop transition near 5 T, reducing the volume of the AFM regions. Consequently, a short ranged inhomogeneous AFM state survives and coexists with a paramagnetic Fermi liquid state at high fields.

Inhomogeneous superconducting state probed by Te NMR on UTe

Nakamine, Genki*; Kinjo, Katsuki*; Kitagawa, Shunsaku*; Ishida, Kenji*; Tokunaga, Yo; Sakai, Hironori; Kambe, Shinsaku; Nakamura, Ai*; Shimizu, Yusei*; Homma, Yoshiya*; et al.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 90(6), p.064709_1 - 064709_7, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSJ.90.064709

Universal scaling behavior under pressure in the heavy-fermion antiferromagnet CeRhSi; Si NMR study

Sakai, Hironori; Matsumoto, Yuji*; Haga, Yoshinori; Tokunaga, Yo; Kambe, Shinsaku

Physical Review B, 103(8), p.085114_1 - 085114_8, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.103.085114

The microscopic origin of a magnetic phase diagram under pressure in a heavy fermion antiferromagnet CeRhSi was investigated using the Si nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique. We investigated the temperature and pressure dependencies of -independent local fluctuations caused by the single-site Kondo effect. A universal scaling behavior observed on the energy scale of the local fluctuations in an entire pressure region demonstrates that a characteristic energy scale of Kondo interactions monotonically increases by applying pressure without a critical anomaly around the quantum critical pressure of antiferromagnetism. Our NMR result agrees with the Doniach picture of the heavy-fermion phase diagram, where the progressive delocalization of the -electrons occurs across , accompanied by the development of antiferromagnetic correlations among the -electrons.

S nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of uranium disulfide -US

Sakai, Hironori; Tokunaga, Yo; Haga, Yoshinori; Kambe, Shinsaku; Ramakrishna, S. K.*; Reyes, A. P.*; Rosa, P. F. S.*; Ronning, F.*; Thompson, J. D.*; Fisk, Z.*; et al.

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 30, p.011169_1 - 011169_6, 2020/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.30.011169

Uranium disulfide -US showing a semimetal-to-semiconductor crossover has been investigated by the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique for S nuclei with the nuclear spin of . Since the natural concentration 0.76% of NMR active S nuclei is too dilute, the isotopic enrichment to 50% has been carried out for the single crystal growth. The S NMR spectra have been successfully obtained using a single crystal of -US with external fields along the crystallographic axis. The S sites assignments have been made based on these NMR spectra.

Novel universality class for the ferromagnetic transition in the low carrier concentration systems UTeS and USeS exhibiting large negative magnetoresistance

Tateiwa, Naoyuki; Haga, Yoshinori; Sakai, Hironori; Yamamoto, Etsuji

Physical Review B, 100(6), p.064413_1 - 064413_7, 2019/08

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.064413

We report the novel critical behavior of magnetization in low carrier concentration systems UTeS and USeS that exhibit the large negative magnetoresistance around the ferromagnetic transition temperatures 85 and 23 K, respectively. We determine the critical exponents, for the spontaneous magnetization , for the magnetic susceptibility , and for the magnetization isotherm at with several analytical methods. The ferromagnetic states in UTeS and USeS have strong uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. However, the critical exponents in the two compounds are different from those in the three-dimensional Ising system. Similar exponents have been reported for the uranium ferromagnetic superconductors UGe and URhGe. An important finding is that the novel critical phenomenon appears regardless of the charge carrier density or the degree of the itinerancy of the electrons.