arXiv subjects

Shuo Zou

Publications and source records attributed to Shuo Zou.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Tilted $p$-wave magnet candidate CeNiAsO

The unexpectedly small ordered moments of CeNiAsO, a candidate for correlated $p$-wave magnet, have posed a serious challenge to the precise determination of its magnetic structure, hindering the understanding of its fundamental properties. By leveraging the high sensitivity to local internal fields, our $^{75}$As nuclear quadrupole / magnetic resonance experiments reveal a commensurate antiferromagnetic order with a small out-of-plane moment $m_z\approx0.05$ $\mu_{\mathrm{B}}$. This tilted magnetic configuration not only rotates the spin polarization axis away from the crystallographic $\mathbf{c}$-axis, but also enhances the non-relativistic spin splitting. We refer to this rare paradigm as a \textit{tilted $p$-wave magnet}.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Possible inverse magnetic melting effect in vdW-like Kondo lattice CeSn$_{0.75}$Sb$_2$

Given the intimate connection between magnetic orders and the interplay among multiple degrees of freedom in heavy-fermion systems, controlling and understanding the associated inverse melting effect is crucial for unveiling novel condensed-matter states and their potential applications. Here, we report the growth of single crystalline quasi-two-dimensional van-der-Waals-like (vdW-like) Kondo lattice CeSn$_{0.75}$Sb$_2$, and its physical properties by a combination of transport / magnetic / thermodynamic measurements. We find that it hosts a fragile antiferromagnetic (AFM) order and a cluster glass (CG) ground state, both of which are highly sensitive to external fields. Upon cooling under low in-plane magnetic fields, the AFM phase evolves into a polarized paramagnetic phase, either directly or indirectly through the intermediate CG phase. This process constitutes a possible inverse magnetic melting effect that restores the broken translational / rotational symmetries. Our work provides a rare paradigm of inverse magnetic melting effect in vdW-like heavy-fermion materials, and enriches the physics in conventional Kondo-lattice models.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2026

Multiple superconducting phases and order-parameter evolution in pressurized UTe$_2$

The recently discovered heavy-fermion spin-triplet superconductor candidate UTe$_2$ provides a rich platform for unconventional pairing and topological phenomena. However, limited has been known about its superconducting order parameters and their evolution with control parameters, largely due to the lack of appropriate symmetry-sensitive detections. Here, we report comprehensive point-contact spectroscopy measurements of pressurized UTe$_2$ on the (0~0~1) surface. The observation of Andreev bound states strongly suggests the presence of a $p_z$ component in the superconducting order parameters. Quantitative analysis based on an extended Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk model unveils the superconducting order parameters with a finite odd-$k_z$ component (e.g. $B_{2u}$ or $B_{3u}$) for both ambient and pressurized UTe$_2$. Remarkably, the multiple superconducting phases can be distinguished by a single parameter $\langle \Delta_{z}\rangle/\langle\Delta_{x(y)}\rangle$, the relative weight between the $p_z$-wave and $p_{x(y)}$-wave pairings. These findings place stringent constraints on the pairing symmetry and provide essential spectroscopic signatures for distinguishing pressure-induced multiple superconducting phases in UTe$_2$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Kondo-coupled van der Waals antiferromagnet with high-mobility quasiparticles

Two-dimensional van der Waals (vdW) materials exhibit high carrier mobility and tunability, making them suitable for low-power, high-performance electronic and spintronic applications. Incorporating narrow-band electronic correlation effects could further promote tunability, though mass renormalization may impact carrier mobility. It is therefore challenging to identify a vdW material with both high mobility and strong correlation. Herein, by a combination of optical spectroscopy and high-field quantum-oscillation measurements, we observe significant effective-mass enhancement in CeTe$_3$ at low temperature, arising from not only the band-structure modulation by antiferromagnetic ordering but also the narrow-band correlation effect. Despite the mass enhancement, the quantum mobility surprisingly \textit{increases} and reaches $\sim$2403 cm$^2$/Vs, likely benefiting from topological protection. Remarkably, these unique properties are maintained in atomically thin nanoflakes with quantum mobility enhanced to $\sim$3158 cm$^2$/Vs. Thus, CeTe$_3$ emerges as a promising Kondo-coupled vdW antiferromagnetic metal with high-mobility quasiparticles, potentially unlocking new device concepts.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Rich unconventional Hall effects in a single quasi-kagome Kondo Weyl semimetal candidate Ce$_3$TiSb$_5$

It is generally believed that electronic correlation, geometric frustration, and topology, \textit{individually}, can facilitate the emergence of various intriguing properties that have attracted a broad audience for both fundamental research and potential applications. Here, we report a series of unconventional Hall effects observed in a \textit{single} compound - quasi-kagome Kondo Weyl semimetal candidate Ce$_3$TiSb$_5$. In the paramagnetic phase, signature of dynamic $c$-$f$ hybridization is revealed by a reduction of anomalous Hall effect and is connected to frustration-promoted incoherent Kondo scattering. A large topological Hall effect exceeding 0.2 $\mu\Omega\cdot$cm is found at low temperatures, which should be ascribed to the non-collinear magnetic texture. In addition, a peculiar loop-shaped Hall effect with switching chirality is also seen, which is inferred to be associated with magnetic domain walls that pin history-dependent spin chirality and / or Fermi-arc surface states projected from the in-gap Weyl nodes. These exotic results place Ce$_3$TiSb$_5$ in a regime of highly-frustrated antiferromagnetic dense Kondo lattice with a nontrivial topology on an ``extended" global phase diagram, and highlight the interplay among electronic correlation, geometric frustration and topology.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Abnormal planar Hall effect and disentanglement of incoherent and coherent transport in a Kondo lattice

The nature of localized-itinerant transition in Kondo lattice systems remains a mystery despite intensive investigations in past decades. While it is often identified from the coherent peak in magnetic resistivity, recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and ultrafast optical spectroscopy revealed a precursor incoherent region with band bending and hybridization fluctuations. This raises the question of how the coherent heavy-electron state is developed from an incoherent background of fluctuating localized moments and then established at sufficiently low temperatures. Here, on the example of the quasi-one-dimensional Kondo lattice compound CeCo$_2$Ga$_8$, we show that planar Hall effect and planar anisotropic magnetoresistance measurements provide an effective way to disentangle the incoherent Kondo scattering contribution and the coherent heavy-electron contribution, and a multi-stage process is directly visualized with lowering temperature by their distinct angle-dependent patterns in magneto-transport. Our idea may be extended to other measurements and thereby opens up a pathway for systematically investigating the fundamental physics of Kondo lattice coherence.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Magnetic properties and enhanced magnetocaloric effect in EuAl$_3$Si single crystals

This study presents systematic investigations into the growth and physical properties of EuAl$_3$Si single crystals, encompassing magnetic, transport, and thermodynamic analyses. EuAl$_3$Si undergoes a ferromagnetic transition at $T_C$ = 15 K. A significant reversible magnetocaloric effect was observed around $T_C$. Strikingly, with a small change of magnetic field 2 T, the maximum values of magnetic entropy change (13.4 J/kg K), refrigerant capacity (166 J/kg) and adiabatic temperature change (7.2 K) are found. These parameters respectively are 60%, 148% and 64% larger than those of the parent compound EuAl$_4$, and suggest EuAl$_3$Si as an excellent candidate for magnetic refrigeration applications near the temperature of liquid hydrogen. The possible mechanism for this enhancement is also discussed.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Improving Network Degree Correlation by Degree-preserving Rewiring

Degree correlation is a crucial measure in networks, significantly impacting network topology and dynamical behavior. The degree sequence of a network is a significant characteristic, and altering network degree correlation through degree-preserving rewiring poses an interesting problem. In this paper, we define the problem of maximizing network degree correlation through a finite number of rewirings and use the assortativity coefficient to measure it. We analyze the changes in assortativity coefficient under degree-preserving rewiring and establish its relationship with the s-metric. Under our assumptions, we prove the problem to be monotonic and submodular, leading to the proposal of the GA method to enhance network degree correlation. By formulating an integer programming model, we demonstrate that the GA method can effectively approximate the optimal solution and validate its superiority over other baseline methods through experiments on three types of real-world networks. Additionally, we introduce three heuristic rewiring strategies, EDA, TA and PEA, and demonstrate their applicability to different types of networks. Furthermore, we extend our investigation to explore the impact of these rewiring strategies on several spectral robustness metrics based on the adjacency matrix. Finally, we examine the robustness of various centrality metrics in the network while enhancing network degree correlation using the GA method.

cs.SI↗

arXiv2024

$^{27}$Al NMR study of the magnetic Weyl semimetal CeAlGe

Motivated by the recent observations of electronic correlation effect [M. Corasaniti \textit{et al}., Phys. Rev. B \textbf{104}, L121112 (2021)] and topology-stabilized magnetic fluctuations [N. Drucker \textit{et al}., Nat. Commun. \textbf{14}, 5182 (2023)] in the noncentrosymmetric magnetic Weyl semimetal candidate CeAlGe, we performed systematic studies on the local static and dynamic spin susceptibilities by $^{27}$Al nuclear magnetic resonance. Due to the large spin susceptibility from Ce-$4f$ electrons, the theoretically predicted responses from Weyl fermions are overwhelmed. A Knight-shift anomaly is observed below $T^*\sim50$ K, a signature of the onset of coherent Kondo coupling. In addition, an anomalous peak is found in $1/T_1T$ near 15 K, well above the magnetic ordering temperature $T_N \approx 5$ K, which probably is a consequence of topology-stabilized magnetic fluctuations. These results highlight the interplay among electronic correlation, magnetism and band topology in this family of Kondo Weyl semimetals.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Attacking The Assortativity Coefficient Under A Rewiring Strategy

Degree correlation is an important characteristic of networks, which is usually quantified by the assortativity coefficient. However, concerns arise about changing the assortativity coefficient of a network when networks suffer from adversarial attacks. In this paper, we analyze the factors that affect the assortativity coefficient and study the optimization problem of maximizing or minimizing the assortativity coefficient (r) in rewired networks with $k$ pairs of edges. We propose a greedy algorithm and formulate the optimization problem using integer programming to obtain the optimal solution for this problem. Through experiments, we demonstrate the reasonableness and effectiveness of our proposed algorithm. For example, rewired edges 10% in the ER network, the assortativity coefficient improved by 60%.

cs.SI↗

arXiv2023

Ultrasonic investigation of the Kondo semimetal CeBi

We report the elastic properties of the Kondo semimetal CeBi by resonant ultrasound spectroscopy measurements at zero magnetic field. Clear elastic softening is found in bulk modulus $C_B$ below $\sim 60$ K. Such a softening in $C_B$, in addition to the anomalous temperature dependent Poisson's ratio, is hardly attributable to multipolar response for stable localized $4f$ orbital, but can be well described by a two-band model arising from the hybridization between conduction- and $4f$- electrons. These results probably are consequences of the valence fluctuations in this Kondo semimetal as originally suggested by a Fermi-surface expansion observed in a previous angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study [P. Li \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. B $\mathbf{100}$, 155110 (2019)].

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Synthesis and physical properties of Ce$_2$Rh$_{3+\delta}$Sb$_4$ single crystals

Millimeter-sized Ce$_2$Rh$_{3+\delta}$Sb$_4$ ($\delta\approx 1/8$) single crystals were synthesized by a Bi-flux method and their physical properties were studied by a combination of electrical transport, magnetic and thermodynamic measurements. The resistivity anisotropy $\rho_{a,b}/\rho_{c}\sim2$, manifesting a quasi-one-dimensional electronic character. Magnetic susceptibility measurements confirm $\mathbf{ab}$ as the magnetic easy plane. A long-range antiferromagnetic transition occurs at $T_N=1.4$ K, while clear short-range ordering can be detected well above $T_N$. The low ordering temperature is ascribed to the large Ce-Ce distance as well as the geometric frustration. Kondo scale is estimated to be about 2.4 K, comparable to the strength of magnetic exchange. Ce$_2$Rh$_{3+\delta}$Sb$_4$, therefore, represents a rare example of dense Kondo lattice whose Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida exchange and Kondo coupling are both weak but competing.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

La$_2$Rh$_{3+δ}$Sb$_4$: A new ternary superconducting rhodium-antimonide

Rhodium-containing compounds offer a fertile playground to explore novel materials with superconductivity and other fantastic electronic correlation effects. A new ternary rhodium-antimonide La$_2$Rh$_{3+δ}$Sb$_4$ ($δ\approx 1/8$) has been synthesized by a Bi-flux method. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic Pr$_2$Ir$_3$Sb$_4$-like structure, with the space group $Pnma$ (No. 62). The crystalline structure appears as stacking the two dimensional RhSb$_4$- and RhSb$_5$-polyhedra networks along $\mathbf{b}$ axis, and the La atoms embed in the cavities of these networks. Band structure calculations confirm it as a multi-band metal with a van-Hove singularity like feature at the Fermi level, whose density of states are mainly of Rh-4$d$ and Sb-5$p$ characters. The calculations also imply that the redundant Rh acts as charge dopant. Superconductivity is observed in this material with onset transition at $T_c^{on}\approx$ 0.8 K. Ultra-low temperature magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements suggest that it is an s-wave type-II superconductor. Our work may also imply that the broad $Ln_2$$Tm_{3+δ}$Sb$_4$ ($Ln$=Rare earth, $Tm$=Rh, Ir...) family may host new material bases where new superconductors, quantum magnetism and other electronic correlation effects could be found.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

Uniaxial stress effect on the quasi-one-dimensional Kondo lattice CeCo$_2$Ga$_8$

Quantum critical phenomena in the quasi-one-dimensional limit remains an open issue. We report the uniaxial stress effect on the quasi-one-dimensional Kondo lattice CeCo$_2$Ga$_8$ by electric transport and AC heat capacity measurements. CeCo$_2$Ga$_8$ is speculated to sit in close vicinity but on the quantum-disordered side of a quantum critical point. Upon compressing the ${c}$ axis, parallel to the Ce-Ce chain, the onset of coherent Kondo effect is enhanced. In contrast, the electronic specific heat diverges more rapidly at low temperature when the intra-chain distance is elongated by compressions along {a} or {b} axes. These results suggest that a tensile intra-chain strain ($\varepsilon_c >0$) pushes CeCo$_2$Ga$_8$ closer to a quantum critical point, while a compressive intra-chain strain ($\varepsilon_c <0$) likely causes departure. Our work provides a rare paradigm of manipulation near a quantum critical point in a quasi-1D Kondo lattice by uniaxial stress, and paves the way for further investigations on the unique feature of quantum criticality in the quasi-1D limit.

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