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Title: Low-temperature conducting state in two candidate topological Kondo insulators: SmB 6 and Ce 3 Bi 4 Pt 3

Journal Article · · Physical Review B
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States)

We have investigated the low temperature conducting state of two Kondo insulators, SmB6 and Ce3Bi4Pt3, which have been theoretically predicted to host topological surface states. Through comparison of the speci c heat of as-grown and powdered single crystals of SmB6, we show that the residual term that is linear in temperature is not dominated by any surface state contribution, but rather is a bulk property. In Ce3Bi4Pt3, we find that the Hall coefficient is independent of sample thickness, which indicates that conduction at low temperatures is dominated by the bulk of the sample, and not by a surface state. The low temperature resistivity of Ce3Bi4Pt3 is found to monotonically decrease with low concentrations of disorder introduced through ion-irradiation. This is in contrast to SmB6, which is again indicative of the contrasting origins of the low temperature conduction. In SmB6, we also show that the effect of low concentrations of irradiation damage of the surface with Fe+ ions is qualitatively consistent with damage with non-magnetic ions.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1414091
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1261700
Report Number(s):
LA--UR-16-22744
Journal Information:
Physical Review B, Journal Name: Physical Review B Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 94; ISSN 2469-9950; ISSN PRBMDO
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (14)

Physical properties of Sm x B 6 single crystals journal January 2019
Quantum Oscillation from In-Gap States and a Non-Hermitian Landau Level Problem journal July 2018
Pressure-driven valence increase and metallization in the Kondo insulator Ce 3 Bi 4 Pt 3 journal December 2019
Quantum oscillations in insulators with neutral Fermi surfaces journal January 2018
Isosbestic points in doped Sm B 6 as features of universality and property tuning journal September 2017
Magnetic field-tuned Fermi liquid in a Kondo insulator journal December 2019
Mixed-valence insulators with neutral Fermi surfaces journal May 2018
Kondo Insulator to Semimetal Transformation Tuned by Spin-Orbit Coupling journal June 2017
Quantum Oscillations in Flux-Grown SmB 6 with Embedded Aluminum journal April 2019
Quantum spin fluctuations in the bulk insulating state of pure and Fe-doped SmB 6 journal June 2017
Topological phase transition in the archetypal f -electron correlated system of cerium journal November 2019
Quantum Oscillation from In-gap States and non-Hermitian Landau Level Problem text January 2018
Anomalous three-dimensional bulk ac conduction within the Kondo gap of SmB 6 single crystals journal October 2016
Kondo Insulator to Semimetal Transformation Tuned by Spin-Orbit Coupling text January 2016

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