Splitting Fermi Surfaces and Heavy Electronic States in Non-Centrosymmetric U3Ni3Sn4

TL;DR

This study investigates the Fermi surface properties of non-centrosymmetric U3Ni3Sn4, revealing Fermi surface splitting due to antisymmetric spin-orbit interaction and evidence of heavy electronic states with large effective masses.

Contribution

First experimental detection of Fermi surface splitting caused by non-centrosymmetry in 5f-electron systems, supported by comprehensive experimental and theoretical analysis.

Findings

Many spherical Fermi surfaces observed, consistent with band calculations.

Large cyclotron effective mass up to 35m0 indicating heavy electronic states.

High crystal quality evidenced by long mean free paths.

Abstract

We report the single-crystal growth of the non-centrosymmetric paramagnet U3Ni3Sn4 by the Bridgman method and the Fermi surface properties detected by de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) experiments. We have also investigated single-crystal U3Ni3Sn4 by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, magnetization, electrical resistivity, and heat capacity measurements. The angular dependence of the dHvA frequencies reveals many closed Fermi surfaces, which are nearly spherical in topology. The experimental results are in good agreement with local density approximation (LDA) band structure calculations based on the 5f-itinerant model. The band structure calculation predicts many Fermi surfaces, mostly with spherical shape, derived from 12 bands crossing the Fermi energy. To our knowledge, the splitting of Fermi surfaces due to the non-centrosymmetric crystal in 5f-electron systems is experimentally detected for the first time. The temperature dependence of the dHvA amplitude reveals a large cyclotron effective mass of up to 35m0, indicating the heavy electronic state of U3Ni3Sn4 due to the proximity of the quantum critical point. From the field dependence of the dHvA amplitude, a mean free path of conduction electrons of up to 1950A is detected, reflecting the good quality of the grown crystal. The small splitting energy related to the antisymmetric spin-orbit interaction is most likely due to the large cyclotron effective mass.