Pressure-tuned quantum criticality in the antiferromagnetic Kondo semimetal CeNi2–δAs2
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (China)
- Sungkyunkwan Univ., Suwon (South Korea)
The easily tuned balance among competing interactions in Kondo-lattice metals allows access to a zero-temperature, continuous transition between magnetically ordered and disordered phases, a quantum-critical point (QCP). Indeed, these highly correlated electron materials are prototypes for discovering and exploring quantum-critical states. Theoretical models proposed to account for the strange thermodynamic and electrical transport properties that emerge around the QCP of a Kondo lattice assume the presence of an indefinitely large number of itinerant charge carriers. Here, we report a systematic transport and thermodynamic investigation of the Kondo-lattice system CeNi2–δAs2 (δ ≈ 0.28) as its antiferromagnetic order is tuned by pressure and magnetic field to zero-temperature boundaries. These experiments show that the very small but finite carrier density of ~0.032 e–/formular unit in CeNi2–δAs2 leads to unexpected transport signatures of quantum criticality and the delayed development of a fully coherent Kondo-lattice state with decreasing temperature. Here, the small carrier density and associated semimetallicity of this Kondo-lattice material favor an unconventional, local-moment type of quantum criticality and raises the specter of the Nozières exhaustion idea that an insufficient number of conduction-electron spins to separately screen local moments requires collective Kondo screening.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1246337
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-14-26358
- Journal Information:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 112, Issue 44; ISSN 0027-8424
- Publisher:
- National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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