Disorder-to-order transition in the magnetic and electronic properties of URh_2Ge_2

TL;DR

This study investigates how annealing transforms URh_2Ge_2 from a disordered spin glass into an ordered antiferromagnetic heavy-fermion metal, highlighting the impact of structural disorder on correlated electron properties.

Contribution

It demonstrates the disorder-to-order transition in URh_2Ge_2 and elucidates how annealing influences its magnetic and electronic behaviors, emphasizing the role of structural disorder.

Findings

Annealing induces a transition from spin glass to long-range antiferromagnetic order.

Transport properties improve, showing metallic behavior along the a axis after annealing.

Structural disorder significantly affects the magnetic and electronic properties of URh_2Ge_2.

Abstract

We present a study of annealing effects on the physical properties of tetragonal single--crystalline URh_2Ge_2. This system, which in as-grown form was recently established as the first metallic 3D random-bond heavy-fermion spin glass, is transformed by an annealing treatment into a long-range antiferromagnetically (AFM) ordered heavy-fermion compound. The transport properties, which in the as-grown material were dominated by the structural disorder, exhibit in the annealed material signs of typical metallic behavior along the crystallographic a axis. From our study URh_2Ge_2 emerges as exemplary material highlighting the role and relevance of structural disorder for the properties of strongly correlated electron systems. We discuss the link between the magnetic and electronic behavior and how they are affected by the structural disorder.