Electronic properties of a heavy-fermion U(Ru0.92Rh0.08)2Si2 single crystal

TL;DR

This study investigates the anisotropic magnetic, transport, and thermal properties of a Rh-doped heavy-fermion compound, revealing a spin liquid ground state with short-range magnetic order and heavy-fermion characteristics.

Contribution

It provides detailed structural and magnetic analysis of U(Ru0.92Rh0.08)2Si2, showing the absence of superconductivity and hidden order, and identifies short-range magnetic order as a precursor to long-range order.

Findings

Heavy-fermion signatures similar to URu2Si2 are observed.

Short-range magnetic order appears below 15 K.

The ground state is classified as a spin liquid.

Abstract

We report the crystal structure and highly-anisotropic magnetic, transport and thermal properties of an exceptionally good single crystal of U(Ru0.92Rh0.08)2Si2 prepared using a modified Czochralski method. Our study, that also includes neutron diffraction results, shows all the heavy-fermion signatures of pristine URu2Si2 , however, the superconductivity, hidden order and remanent weak antiferromagnetic orders are absent. Instead, the ground state of the doped system can be classified as a spin liquid that preserves the heavy-fermion character. U(Ru0.92Rh0.08)2Si2 exhibits a short-range magnetic order distinguished by reflections of a Lorentzian profile at qIII = (1/2 1/2 1/2) positions that disappear above approx. 15 K. The short-range order seems to be a precursor of a long-range magnetic order that occurs with higher Rh concentration. We indicate that these short-range fluctuations involve, at least partially, inelastic scattering processes.