Phurba Sherpa | Searcharxiv

arXiv2025

Evidence for easy-plane XY ferromagnetism in heavy-fermion quantum-critical CeRh6Ge4

We report $^{73}$Ge nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) and magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in the heavy-fermion quantum-critical ferromagnet CeRh$_6$Ge$_4$. NQR and NMR spectral measurements at the two non-equivalent Ge sites reveal electric field gradient tensors and the directions of their principal axes relative to the hexagonal basal plane. The spin-lattice relaxation rate $1/T_1$ experiments reveal a clear critical slowing down approaching the ferromagnetic transition. $1/T_1$ in the paramagnetic state is found to be predominantly caused by fluctuating 4$f$-local moments. The Knight shift shows Curie-Weiss behavior at high temperature and a deviation from this below $T^\ast$ $\approx$ 25 K possibly due to a mixture of crystalline electric field effects and Kondo screening. Order-parameter-like behavior of hyperfine fields at the Ge sites and ferromagnetic signal enhancement are observed in Zeeman-perturbed NQR, with uniform ferromagnetic order and a small ordered moment of $\approx$ 0.26 $μ_B$/Ce confined within the $ab$-plane. The ordered moment shows a notable in-plane magnetic stiffness against out-of-plane radiofrequency fields and has an (XY-type) in-plane isotropic nature. Our results reveal a strong easy-plane anisotropy of 4$f$-electron moment and suggest an involved interplay of hybridization and local moment physics in this quantum critical heavy-fermion ferromagnet.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2021

Determination of $1p$ and $2p$ stripping excitation functions for $^{16}$O+$^{142}$Ce using a Recoil Mass Spectrometer

We report the first direct measurement of differential transfer cross sections using a Recoil Mass Spectrometer. Absolute differential $1p$ and $2p$-stripping cross sections at $θ_\mathrm{c.m.}=180^\circ$ have been determined for the system $^{16}$O+$^{142}$Ce by detecting the heavier target-like ions at the focal plane of the Heavy Ion Reaction Analyzer. Focal plane spectra have been compared with the results of a semi-microscopic Monte-Carlo simulation to unambiguously identify the transfer channels. Transmission efficiency of the target-like ions through the spectrometer has also been estimated using the simulation. The methodology adopted in this work can be applied to other recoil separators. The measured excitation functions for the reactions $^{142}\mathrm{Ce(}^{16}\mathrm{O,}^{15}\mathrm{N)}^{143}\mathrm{Pr}$ and $^{142}\mathrm{Ce(}^{16}\mathrm{O,}^{14}\mathrm{C)}^{144}\mathrm{Nd}$ have been compared with coupled reaction channel calculations. An excellent matching between measurement and theory has been obtained. For $1p$-stripping, major contribution to the cross section has been found to be the transfer of a proton from $^{16}\mathrm{O}$ to the $2d_{\frac{5}{2}}$ excited state of $^{143}\mathrm{Pr}$, leaving behind $^{15}\mathrm{N}$ in the $1p_{\frac{1}{2}}$ ground state. Transfer of a cluster of two protons from $^{16}\mathrm{O}$ to the $2^{+}$ excited state of $^{144}\mathrm{Nd}$, resulting in $^{14}\mathrm{C}$ in the $0^{+}$ ground state, appears to be the most probable cause for $2p$-stripping. Measured transfer probabilities for $1p$ and $2p$ channels have been compared with Time-Dependent Hartree-Fock calculations. Proton stripping channels are found to be more favourable compared to neutron pick-up channels. However, the theory overpredicts measurement hinting at the need for extended approaches with explicit treatment of pairing correlations in the calculations.

nucl-ex↗