Ce<sub>3</sub>Bi<sub>4</sub>Ni<sub>3</sub> – A large hybridization-gap variant of Ce<sub>3</sub>Bi<sub>4</sub>Pt<sub>3</sub>

Autor(en)
D. M. Kirschbaum, X. Yan, M. Waas, R. Svagera, A. Prokofiev, B. Stöger, Gerald Giester, P. Rogl, D.-G. Oprea, C. Felser, R. Valentí, M. G. Vergniory, J. Custers, Silke Paschen, D. A. Zocco
Abstrakt

The family of cubic noncentrosymmetric 3-4-3 compounds has become a fertile ground for the discovery of novel correlated metallic and insulating phases. Here, we report the synthesis of a new heavy fermion compound, Ce3Bi4Ni3. It is an isoelectronic analog of the prototypical Kondo insulator Ce3Bi4Pt3 and of the recently discovered Weyl-Kondo semimetal Ce3Bi4Pd3. In contrast to the volume-preserving Pt-Pd substitution, structural and chemical analyses reveal a positive chemical pressure effect in Ce3Bi4Ni3 relative to its heavier counterparts. Based on the results of electrical resistivity, Hall effect, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat measurements, we identify an energy gap of 65-70 meV, about eight times larger than that in Ce3Bi4Pt3 and about 45 times larger than that of the Kondo-insulating background hosting the Weyl nodes in Ce3Bi4Pd3. We show that this gap as well as other physical properties do not evolve monotonically with increasing atomic number, i.e., in the sequence Ce3Bi4Ni3-Ce3Bi4Pd3-Ce3Bi4Pt3, but instead with increasing partial electronic density of states of the d orbitals at the Fermi energy. This work opens the possibility to investigate the conditions under which topological states develop in this series of strongly correlated 3-4-3 materials.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Mineralogie und Kristallographie, Institut für Materialchemie
Externe Organisation(en)
Technische Universität Wien, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Physik fester Stoffe, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Donostia International Physics Centre (DIPC), Charles University Prague
Journal
Physical Review Research
Band
6
Seiten
1-11
Anzahl der Seiten
11
ISSN
2643-1564
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.023242
Publikationsdatum
04-2024
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
104006 Festkörperchemie, 105116 Mineralogie, 105113 Kristallographie
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/a6e3e85e-533e-48c1-b91c-cc18d921ee22