Correlation gap in the heavy-fermion antiferromagnet UPd_2Al_3

TL;DR

This study investigates the optical properties of UPd₂Al₃, revealing a hybridization gap, a pseudogap linked to antiferromagnetic order, and a correlation gap, providing insights into heavy-fermion behavior and magnetic correlations.

Contribution

It provides detailed optical measurements across a broad temperature range, identifying a correlation gap and pseudogap, and relates these to magnetic ordering and electron correlations in UPd₂Al₃.

Findings

Hybridization gap opens around 10 meV below 50 K.

A pseudogap of about 0.2 meV develops below 20 K.

Effective mass enhancement occurs mainly below the magnetic correlation energy.

Abstract

The optical properties of the heavy-fermion compound UPd$_2$Al$_3$ have been measured in the frequency range from 0.04 meV to 5 meV (0.3 to 40 cm$^{-1}$) at temperatures $2 {\rm K}<T< 300$ K. Below the coherence temperature $T^*\approx 50$ K, the hybridization gap opens around 10 meV. As the temperature decreases further ($T\leq 20$ K), a well pronounced pseudogap of approximately 0.2 meV develops in the optical response; we relate this to the antiferromagnetic ordering which occurs below $T_N\approx 14$ K. The frequency dependent mass and scattering rate give evidence that the enhancement of the effective mass mainly occurs below the energy which is associated to the magnetic correlations between the itinerant and localized 5f electrons. In addition to this correlation gap, we observe a narrow zero-frequency conductivity peak which at 2 K is less than 0.1 meV wide, and which contains only a fraction of the delocalized carriers. The analysis of the spectral weight infers a loss of kinetic energy associated with the superconducting transition.