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    Evolution of the Kondo lattice and non-Fermi liquid excitations in a heavy-fermion metal
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Seiro, S.; Jiao, L.; Kirchner, S.; Hartmann, S.; Friedemann, S.; Krellner, C.; Geibel, C.; Si, Q.; Steglich, F.; Wirth, S.
    Strong electron correlations can give rise to extraordinary properties of metals with renormalized Landau quasiparticles. Near a quantum critical point, these quasiparticles can be destroyed and non-Fermi liquid behavior ensues. YbRh2Si2 is a prototypical correlated metal exhibiting the formation of quasiparticle and Kondo lattice coherence, as well as quasiparticle destruction at a field-induced quantum critical point. Here we show how, upon lowering the temperature, Kondo lattice coherence develops at zero field and finally gives way to non-Fermi liquid electronic excitations. By measuring the single-particle excitations through scanning tunneling spectroscopy, we find the Kondo lattice peak displays a non-trivial temperature dependence with a strong increase around 3.3 K. At 0.3 K and with applied magnetic field, the width of this peak is minimized in the quantum critical regime. Our results demonstrate that the lattice Kondo correlations have to be sufficiently developed before quantum criticality can set in.
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    High-field phase diagram of the heavy-fermion metal YbRh2Si2
    (Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2006) Gegenwart, P.; Tokiwa, Y.; Westerkamp, T.; Weickert, F.; Custers, J.; Ferstl, J.; Krellner, C.; Geibel, C.; Kerschl, P.; Müller, K.-H.; Steglich, F.
    The tetragonal heavy-fermion (HF) metal YbRh2Si2 (Kondo temperature TK≈ 25 K) exhibits a magnetic field-induced quantum critical point related to the suppression of very weak antiferromagnetic (AF) ordering (TN = 70 mK) at a critical field of Bc = 0.06 T (B⊥ c). To understand the influence of magnetic fields on quantum criticality and the Kondo effect, we study the evolution of various thermodynamic and magnetic properties upon tuning the system by magnetic field. At B > Bc, the AF component of the quantum critical fluctuations becomes suppressed, and FM fluctuations dominate. Their polarization with magnetic field gives rise to a large increase of the magnetization. At B* = 10 T, the Zeeman energy becomes comparable to kB TK, and a steplike decrease of the quasi-particle mass deduced from the specific-heat coefficient indicates the suppression of HF behaviour. The magnetization M(B) shows a pronounced decrease in slope at B* without any signature of metamagnetism. The field dependence of the linear magnetostriction coefficient suggests an increase of the Yb-valency with field, reaching 3+ at high fields. A negative hydrostatic pressure dependence of B* is found, similar to that of the Kondo temperature. We also compare the magnetization behaviour in pulsed fields up to 50 T with that of the isoelectronic HF system YbIr2Si2, which, due to a larger unit-cell volume, has an enhanced TK of about 40 K.