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Title: The dual nature of magnetism in a uranium heavy fermion system

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [5];  [6];  [2]
  1. 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)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Neutron Scattering Division
  3. Leiden Univ. (Netherlands). Kamerlingh Onnes Lab. Lorentz Inst.
  4. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept.
  5. Braunschweig Univ. of Technology (Germany)
  6. 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
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 11 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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