Antiferro-quadrupole state of orbital-degenerate Kondo lattice model with f^2 configuration

TL;DR

This paper investigates the ground-state properties of an orbital-degenerate Kondo lattice model for PrPb₃, revealing that an antiferro-orbital state emerges due to a double-exchange mechanism involving localized and itinerant orbitals.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel orbital-degenerate Kondo lattice model for PrPb₃ and demonstrates the emergence of an antiferro-orbital state driven by double-exchange.

Findings

Antiferro-orbital state is stabilized in the model.

Double-exchange mechanism is key to orbital ordering.

Localized and itinerant orbitals play distinct roles.

Abstract

To clarify a key role of $f$ orbitals in the emergence of antiferro-quadrupole structure in PrPb$_{3}$, we investigate the ground-state property of an orbital-degenerate Kondo lattice model by numerical diagonalization techniques. In PrPb$_{3}$, Pr$^{3+}$ has a $4f^{2}$ configuration and the crystalline-electric-field ground state is a non-Kramers doublet $\Gamma_{3}$. In a $j$-$j$ coupling scheme, the $\Gamma_{3}$ state is described by two local singlets, each of which consists of two $f$ electrons with one in $\Gamma_{7}$ and another in $\Gamma_{8}$ orbitals. Since in a cubic structure, $\Gamma_{7}$ has localized nature, while $\Gamma_{8}$ orbitals are rather itinerant, we propose the orbital-degenerate Kondo lattice model for an effective Hamiltonian of PrPb$_{3}$. We show that an antiferro-orbital state is favored by the so-called double-exchange mechanism which is characteristic of multi-orbital systems.