Single crystal 27Al-NMR study of the cubic Gamma3 ground doublet system PrTi2Al20

TL;DR

This study uses 27Al-NMR measurements on PrTi2Al20 to analyze the electric field gradients and Knight shifts, revealing significant anisotropic hybridization between conduction and f electron states.

Contribution

It provides detailed NMR analysis of the electric field gradient tensors and hyperfine couplings in PrTi2Al20, highlighting anisotropic hybridization effects.

Findings

Determined electric field gradient tensors for all Al sites.

Identified strongly anisotropic hyperfine coupling at Al(3) sites.

Revealed importance of anisotropic hybridization between conduction and f electrons.

Abstract

We report results of 27Al-NMR measurements on a single crystal of PrTi2Al20, in which the ground state of Pr3+ ions in the crystalline electric field is the nonmagnetic Gamma3 doublet. From the analysis of NMR spectra with the magnetic field applied precisely along the <111> and <100> directions, we determined the electric field gradient tensors for all three inequivalent Al sites (Al(1) ~ Al(3) sites) and the anisotropic Knight shifts for the Al(3) sites. The hyperfine coupling tensor at the Al(3) sites is strongly anisotropic and much larger than the classical dipolar coupling, indication importance of the anisotropic hybridization between the conduction and f electron states.