The dual nature of magnetism in a uranium heavy fermion system
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS); Inst. for Basic Science, Pohang (Korea, Republic of). Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems (CALDES)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Neutron Scattering Division
- Leiden Univ. (Netherlands). Kamerlingh Onnes Lab. Lorentz Inst.
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept.
- Braunschweig Univ. of Technology (Germany)
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS)
The duality between the localized and itinerant nature of magnetism in 5f-electron systems has been a long-standing puzzle. Here, we report inelastic neutron scattering measurements, which reveal both local and itinerant aspects of magnetism in a single-crystalline system of UPt2Si2. In the antiferromagnetic state, we observe a broad continuum of diffuse magnetic scattering with a resonancelike gap of ≈7 meV and the surprising absence of coherent spin waves, suggestive of itinerant magnetism. While the gap closes above the Néel temperature, strong dynamic spin correlations persist to a high temperature. Nevertheless, the size and temperature dependence of the total magnetic spectral weight can be well described by a local moment with J=4. Furthermore, polarized neutron measurements reveal that the magnetic fluctuations are mostly transverse, with little or none of the longitudinal component expected for itinerant moments. These results suggest that a dual description of local and itinerant magnetism is required to understand UPt2Si2 and, by extension, other 5f systems, in general.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); ORNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Science Foundation (NSF); National Inst. of Health (NIH) (United States)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0012704; DMR-1332208; AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1460695
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1462161; OSTI ID: 1474559
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-207824-2018-JAAM; TRN: US1901899
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 121, Issue 5; ISSN 0031-9007
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Similar Records
Interplay between unconventional superconductivity and heavy-fermion quantum criticality: CeCu2Si2 versus YbRh2Si2
Magnetic excitations in the triangular antiferromagnets Mn[sub 3]Sn and Mn[sub 3]Ge