Unusually strong electronic correlation and field-induced ordered phase in YbCo$_2$

TL;DR

This study investigates YbCo₂, revealing strong electronic correlations, absence of magnetic order down to very low temperatures, and a field-induced transition suggesting proximity to a quantum critical point.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive measurements on YbCo₂, highlighting the interplay of Kondo effect, magnetic correlations, and quantum criticality in this compound.

Findings

No magnetic ordering down to 0.3 K.

Large electronic specific heat with logarithmic increase.

Field-induced transition indicating ferromagnetic character.

Abstract

We report the first study of electrical resistivity, magnetization, and specific heat on YbCo$_2$. The measurements on a single-phased sample of YbCo$_2$ bring no evidence of magnetic ordering down to 0.3 K in a zero magnetic field. The manifestations of low Kondo temperature are observed. The specific heat value divided by temperature, C/T, keeps increasing logarithmically beyond 7 J/mol.K2 with decreasing temperature down to 0.3 K without no sign of magnetic ordering, suggesting a very large electronic specific heat. Analysis of the magnetic specific heat indicates that the large portion of the low-temperature specific heat is not explained simply by the low Kondo temperature but is due to the strong intersite magnetic correlation in both the 3d and 4f electrons. Temperature-dependent measurements under static magnetic fields up to 7 T are carried out, which show the evolution of field-induced transition above 2 T. The transition temperature increases with increasing field, pointing to a ferromagnetic character. The extrapolation of the transition temperature to zero field suggests that YbCo$_2$ is in the very proximity of the quantum critical point. These results indicate that in the unique case of YbCo$_2$, the itinerant electron magnetism of Co 3d-electrons and the Kondo effect within the vicinity of quantum criticality of Yb 4f-local moments can both play a role.