Fermi surface in the absence of a Fermi liquid in the Kondo insulator SmB6

doi:10.1038/nphys4295

This content will become publicly available on October 23, 2018

Title: Fermi surface in the absence of a Fermi liquid in the Kondo insulator SmB ₆

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The search for a Fermi surface in the absence of a conventional Fermi liquid has thus far yielded very few potential candidates. Among promising materials are spin-frustrated Mott insulators near the insulator–metal transition, where theory predicts a Fermi surface associated with neutral low-energy excitations. In this paper, we reveal another route to experimentally realize a Fermi surface in the absence of a Fermi liquid by the experimental study of a Kondo insulator SmB ₆ positioned close to the insulator–metal transition. We present experimental signatures down to low temperatures (<<1 K) associated with a Fermi surface in the bulk, including a sizeable linear specific heat coefficient, and on the application of a finite magnetic field, bulk magnetic quantum oscillations, finite quantum oscillatory entropy, and substantial enhancement in thermal conductivity well below the charge gap energy scale. Finally, the weight of evidence indicates that despite an extreme instance of Fermi liquid breakdown in Kondo insulating SmB ₆, a Fermi surface arises from novel itinerant low-energy excitations that couple to magnetic fields, but not weak DC electric fields.

Authors:

Hartstein, M. ^[1] ; Toews, W. H. ^[2] ; Hsu, Y. -T. ^[1] ; Zeng, B. ^[3] ; ; Hatnean, M. Ciomaga ^[4] ; Zhang, Q. R. ^[3] ; Nakamura, S. ^[5] ; Padgett, A. S. ^[6] ; Rodway-Gant, G. ^[7] ; Berk, J. ^[1] ; Kingston, M. K. ^[1] ; Zhang, G. H. ^[8] ; Chan, M. K. ^[9] ; Yamashita, S. ^[10] ; Sakakibara, T. ^[5] ; Takano, Y. ^[6] ; Park, J. -H. ^[3] ; ; Harrison, N. ^[9] more »

Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Cavendish Lab.
Univ. of Waterloo, ON (Canada). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
National High Magnetic Field Lab. (MagLab), Tallahassee, FL (United States)
Univ. of Warwick, Coventry (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics
Univ. of Tokyo, Kashiwa (Japan). Inst. for Solid State Physics
Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States). Dept. of Physics
Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Cavendish Lab.; Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics
Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Cavendish Lab.; Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Osaka Univ., Toyonaka (Japan). Dept. of Chemistry
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev (Ukraine)

Publication Date:: 2017-10-23

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-17-29404
Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396; SC0002613; DMR-1157490; EP/P024947/1; EP/M028771/1; EP/K012894/1; EP/L014963/1; 337425; 15H05883; 15H03682; JP16K05447

Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Nature Physics

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 14; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group (NPG)

Research Org:: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); National High Magnetic Field Lab. (MagLab), Tallahassee, FL (United States); Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom); Univ. of Warwick, Coventry (United Kingdom); Univ. of Waterloo, ON (Canada); Univ. of Tokyo, Kashiwa (Japan); Osaka Univ., Toyonaka (Japan)

Sponsoring Org:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); National Science Foundation (NSF); Royal Society (United Kingdom); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); European Research Council (ERC); Leverhulme Trust (United Kingdom); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) (Japan)

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS

OSTI Identifier:: 1441312


                    Hartstein, M., Toews, W. H., Hsu, Y. -T., Zeng, B., Chen, X., Hatnean, M. Ciomaga, Zhang, Q. R., Nakamura, S., Padgett, A. S., Rodway-Gant, G., Berk, J., Kingston, M. K., Zhang, G. H., Chan, M. K., Yamashita, S., Sakakibara, T., Takano, Y., Park, J. -H., Balicas, L., Harrison, N., Shitsevalova, N., Balakrishnan, G., Lonzarich, G. G., Hill, R. W., Sutherland, M., and Sebastian, Suchitra E.. Fermi surface in the absence of a Fermi liquid in the Kondo insulator SmB6.  United States: N. p.,  
        Web.  doi:10.1038/nphys4295.

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                    Hartstein, M., Toews, W. H., Hsu, Y. -T., Zeng, B., Chen, X., Hatnean, M. Ciomaga, Zhang, Q. R., Nakamura, S., Padgett, A. S., Rodway-Gant, G., Berk, J., Kingston, M. K., Zhang, G. H., Chan, M. K., Yamashita, S., Sakakibara, T., Takano, Y., Park, J. -H., Balicas, L., Harrison, N., Shitsevalova, N., Balakrishnan, G., Lonzarich, G. G., Hill, R. W., Sutherland, M., & Sebastian, Suchitra E.. Fermi surface in the absence of a Fermi liquid in the Kondo insulator SmB6.  United States.  doi:10.1038/nphys4295.

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                    Hartstein, M., Toews, W. H., Hsu, Y. -T., Zeng, B., Chen, X., Hatnean, M. Ciomaga, Zhang, Q. R., Nakamura, S., Padgett, A. S., Rodway-Gant, G., Berk, J., Kingston, M. K., Zhang, G. H., Chan, M. K., Yamashita, S., Sakakibara, T., Takano, Y., Park, J. -H., Balicas, L., Harrison, N., Shitsevalova, N., Balakrishnan, G., Lonzarich, G. G., Hill, R. W., Sutherland, M., and Sebastian, Suchitra E.. 2017.  
        "Fermi surface in the absence of a Fermi liquid in the Kondo insulator SmB6".  United States.  
        doi:10.1038/nphys4295.

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@article{osti_1441312,

  title        = {Fermi surface in the absence of a Fermi liquid in the Kondo insulator SmB6},

  author       = {Hartstein, M. and Toews, W. H. and Hsu, Y. -T. and Zeng, B. and Chen, X. and Hatnean, M. Ciomaga and Zhang, Q. R. and Nakamura, S. and Padgett, A. S. and Rodway-Gant, G. and Berk, J. and Kingston, M. K. and Zhang, G. H. and Chan, M. K. and Yamashita, S. and Sakakibara, T. and Takano, Y. and Park, J. -H. and Balicas, L. and Harrison, N. and Shitsevalova, N. and Balakrishnan, G. and Lonzarich, G. G. and Hill, R. W. and Sutherland, M. and Sebastian, Suchitra E.},

  abstractNote = {The search for a Fermi surface in the absence of a conventional Fermi liquid has thus far yielded very few potential candidates. Among promising materials are spin-frustrated Mott insulators near the insulator–metal transition, where theory predicts a Fermi surface associated with neutral low-energy excitations. In this paper, we reveal another route to experimentally realize a Fermi surface in the absence of a Fermi liquid by the experimental study of a Kondo insulator SmB6 positioned close to the insulator–metal transition. We present experimental signatures down to low temperatures (<<1 K) associated with a Fermi surface in the bulk, including a sizeable linear specific heat coefficient, and on the application of a finite magnetic field, bulk magnetic quantum oscillations, finite quantum oscillatory entropy, and substantial enhancement in thermal conductivity well below the charge gap energy scale. Finally, the weight of evidence indicates that despite an extreme instance of Fermi liquid breakdown in Kondo insulating SmB6, a Fermi surface arises from novel itinerant low-energy excitations that couple to magnetic fields, but not weak DC electric fields.},

  doi          = {10.1038/nphys4295},

  journal      = {Nature Physics},

  number       = 2,

  volume       = 14,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2017},

  month        = {10}

}

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This content will become publicly available on October 23, 2018
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10.1038/nphys4295
https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4295

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Title: Fermi surface in the absence of a Fermi liquid in the Kondo insulator SmB 6

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Title: Fermi surface in the absence of a Fermi liquid in the Kondo insulator SmB ₆