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Fermi surface gapping in the hidden order state of PrFe4P12 by point-contact spectroscopy

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Abstract

We have applied point-contact spectroscopy (PCS) to investigate the nonmagnetic hidden order (HO) state of the skutterudite compound PrFe4P12 with its transition temperature THO ∼ 6.5 K. Its point-contact conductance curves exhibit a reproducible gap structure in the HO state below THO and its temperature dependent gap magnitude follows a BCS-like mean-field behavior. A Fano-like conductance shape is observed to emerge below the coherence temperature of PrFe4P12. In a magnetic field, the gap feature is gradually suppressed and evolves into a pronounced Fano peak, signaling the heavy fermion state and vividly demonstrating the competition between HO and the formation of heavy fermion states. Our results strongly suggest the itinerant characteristic of f electrons in PrFe4P12, which constrains theoretical models to explain the HO mechanism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Tian Le

  2. Center for Correlated Matter and Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Tian Le, LiQiang Che, Qi Huang & Xin Lu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Kevin Huang, ZhaoFeng Ding & Lei Shu

  4. Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Lei Shu & Xin Lu

  5. Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Quantum Technology and Device, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Xin Lu

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  1. Tian Le
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  2. LiQiang Che
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Correspondence to Tian Le, Lei Shu or Xin Lu.

Additional information

We are grateful for valuable discussions with Xi Dai, Yi Zhou, Joe D, Thompson, Frank Steglich, and Huiqiu Yuan. Work at Zhejiang University is supported by National Key RSlD Program of China (Grant Nos. 2017YFA0303101, and 2016FYA0300402) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12174333, and 11674279). Lei Shu would acknowledge the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11474060) and Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology (Grant Nos. 2019SHZDZX01, and 20ZR1405300). Xin Lu would like to acknowledge support from the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. LR18A04001) and the Key R&D Program of Zhejiang Province, China (Grant No. 2021C01002).

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Le, T., Che, L., Huang, Q. et al. Fermi surface gapping in the hidden order state of PrFe4P12 by point-contact spectroscopy. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 65, 237412 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-021-1823-1

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