YFe2Al10: unravelling the source of quantum criticality

André Strydom

University of Johannesburg, South Africa


    YFe2Al10 forms in a well-ordered orthorhombic crystal structure, with a unique site for the magnetic atom Fe. At elevated temperatures YFe2Al10 is paramagnetic and behaves electronically as a good metal. At low temperatures pronounced signatures of correlated behaviour develop and eventually non-Fermi-liquid scaling dominates all of the physical properties: the electrical resistivity develops a negative temperature coefficient below 20K, and the specific heat and magnetic susceptibility both convert into a power-law increase upon lowering the temperature below 3K. Lowest temperature studies have thus far failed to uncover a magnetic phase transition in YFe2Al10 in spite of compelling evidence that there is impending order in this compound, and that it is indeed of ferromagnetic character. Here we report on our latest results of neutron scattering and muon-spin relaxation studies that were devised to shed light on the nature of electronic correlations and the collective behaviour that develops in YFe2Al10.

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