Toshiro Sakakibara

Superconductivity at 1 K in Cd2Re2O7

We report the first pyrochlore oxide superconductor Cd2Re2O7. Resistivity,magnetic susceptibility,and specific heat measurements on single crystals evidence a bulk superconductivity at 1 K. Another phase transition found at 200 K suggests that a peculiar electronic structure lies behind the superconductivity.

Itinerant electron metamagnetism in YCo2

Abstract The magnetization measurement of an exchange-enhanced Pauli paramagnet YCo2 has been made at 10 K in pulsed ultra-high magnetic fields up to 94 T to examine the existence of itinerant electron metamagnetism. The field induced phase transition from a paramagnetic to a ferromagnetic state has been observed for the first time at about 70 T, indicating a clear evidence for the existence of metamagnetism.

Faraday force magnetometer for high-sensitivity magnetization measurements at very low temperatures and high fields

A Faraday force magnetometer has been developed for static magnetization measurements at very low temperatures down to 100 mK and in fields up to 9 T. The magnetic force acting on a specimen located in the adiabatic vacuum chamber of a dilution refrigerator is detected by a newly designed load-sensing variable capacitor. Use of a superconducting magnet with gradient coils enables accurate measurement of magnetic moment with a resolution of better than 1×10-7 Am2 ( 1×10-4 emu). An application to magnetization measurements on the heavy-electron antiferromagnet CeB6 is presented.

Effects of doping on the transport properties of CoSb3

Effects of doping on the transport properties of CoSb3 have been systematically investigated using Ni, Pd, and Pt as donor impurities. It is shown that the Hall mobility, the Seebeck coefficient, and the electrical conductivity depend strongly not only on the carrier concentration but also on these donor impurities. Our theoretical analysis suggests that the electron effective mass and the conduction band deformation potential are significantly affected by both the doping levels and the donor impurities. These doping effects in CoSb3 can be attributed to (1) the changes in the electronic structure with doping and (2) the specific nature of the conduction band structure, in particular, the nonparabolicity of the band which can be explained in terms of a two-band Kane model. The observed changes in the electronic properties with doping are also consistent with the predictions of a recent band structure calculation of CoSb3. On the other hand, the lattice thermal conductivity decreases markedly with increasi...

Magnetic Phase Diagram of CexLa1-xB6 Studied by Static Magnetization Measurement at Very Low Temperatures.

DC magnetization of single crystals of Ce x La 1- x B 6 , 0.5≤ x ≤1, have been measured at low temperatures ( T ) down to 40 mK in magnetic field H //[100], and the H - T - x phase diagrams were obtained. At zero field, the antiferro-quadrupolar (AFQ) transition temperature T Q rapidly decreases with decreasing x and vanishes abruptly between x =0.75 and 0.7. The Neel temperature T N , which is lower than T Q in CeB 6 , varies more slowly with x and exceeds T Q for \(x \gtrsim 0.8\). A clear peak observed in the susceptibility strongly suggests that a new antiferromagnetic (AF) state having no AFQ moment (phase IV) exists for \(0.8\gtrsim x\gtrsim 0.5\), in addition to the two ordered phases II (AFQ) and III (AF+AFQ). As H increases, a first-order phase IV-III transition is observed with a metamagnetic jump in the magnetization. Successive I (paramagnetic)-IV-III phase transitions are observable in a very narrow region of the H - T - x space.

Magnetic phase diagram of the heavy fermion superconductor PrOs4Sb12

We investigated the magnetic phase diagram of the first Pr-based heavy fermion superconductor PrOs 4 Sb 12 by means of high-resolution dc magnetization measurements in low temperatures down to 0.06 K. The temperature dependence of the magnetization M ( T ) at 0.1 kOe exhibits two distinct anomalies at T c1 =1.83 K and T c2 =1.65 K, in agreement with the specific heat measurements at zero field. Increasing magnetic field H , both T c1 ( H ) and T c2 ( H ) move toward lower temperatures without showing a tendency of intersecting to each other. Above 10 kOe, the transition at T c2 ( H ) appears to merge into a line of the peak effect which is observed near the upper critical field H c2 in the isothermal M ( H ) curves, suggesting a common origin for these two phenomena. The presence of the field-induced ordered phase (called phase A here) is confirmed for three principal directions above 40 kOe, with the anisotropic A-phase transition temperature T A : T A [100] > T A [111] > T A [110] . The present results ...

Quantum Criticality Without Tuning in the Mixed Valence Compound β-YbAlB4

A quantum phase transition is observed in a stoichiometric compound at ambient pressure and in zero magnetic field. Fermi liquid theory, the standard theory of metals, has been challenged by a number of observations of anomalous metallic behavior found in the vicinity of a quantum phase transition. The breakdown of the Fermi liquid is accomplished by fine-tuning the material to a quantum critical point by using a control parameter such as the magnetic field, pressure, or chemical composition. Our high-precision magnetization measurements of the ultrapure f-electron–based superconductor β-YbAlB4 demonstrate a scaling of its free energy that is indicative of zero-field quantum criticality without tuning in a metal. The breakdown of Fermi liquid behavior takes place in a mixed-valence state, which is in sharp contrast with other known examples of quantum critical f-electron systems that are magnetic Kondo lattice systems with integral valence.

Time-reversal symmetry breaking and spontaneous Hall effect without magnetic dipole order

Spin liquids are magnetically frustrated systems, in which spins are prevented from ordering or freezing, owing to quantum or thermal fluctuations among degenerate states induced by the frustration. Chiral spin liquids are a hypothetical class of spin liquids in which the time-reversal symmetry is macroscopically broken in the absence of an applied magnetic field or any magnetic dipole long-range order. Even though such chiral spin-liquid states were proposed more than two decades ago, an experimental realization and observation of such states has remained a challenge. One of the characteristic order parameters in such systems is a macroscopic average of the scalar spin chirality, a solid angle subtended by three nearby spins. In previous experimental reports, however, the spin chirality was only parasitic to the non-coplanar spin structure associated with a magnetic dipole long-range order or induced by the applied magnetic field, and thus the chiral spin-liquid state has never been found. Here, we report empirical evidence that the time-reversal symmetry can be broken spontaneously on a macroscopic scale in the absence of magnetic dipole long-range order. In particular, we employ the anomalous Hall effect to directly probe the broken time-reversal symmetry for the metallic frustrated magnet Pr2Ir2O7. An onset of the Hall effect is observed at zero field in the absence of uniform magnetization, within the experimental accuracy, suggesting an emergence of a chiral spin liquid. The origin of this spontaneous Hall effect is ascribed to chiral spin textures, which are inferred from the magnetic measurements indicating the spin ice-rule formation.

The anisotropic superconductivity of RBa2Cu3O7−x (R : Y, Gd and Ho) single crystals

Abstract Our study of high temperature superconductivity in RBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 − x (R:Y, Gd and Ho) using single crystal samples is reviewed with emphases on the anisotropic transport properties in the superconducting phase as well as the normal phase. Recent transport results obtained by use of a new technique for attaching a number of electrical leads on a small single crystal are also presented.

Single uranium-site properties of the dilute heavy electron system UxTh1-xRu2Si2(x≤0.07)

Specific heat C , electrical resistivity ρ , magnetization M and magnetic susceptibility χ have been measured for the dilute tetragonal heavy-electron compounds U x Th 1- x Ru 2 Si 2 ( x ≤0.07), in the temperature range 100 mK≤ T ≤360 K and in the magnetic fields H up to 55 kOe. Non-Fermi-liquid behavior with unusual lnT dependence of C , ρ and χ has been observed at the low temperatures: as the temperature is lowered below about 10 K, C / T and χ increase logarithmically, and ρ decreases logarithmically. Systematical variations of these quantities with uranium concentration indicate that the observed non-Fermi-liquid behavior is ascribed to the properties of a single U ion embedded in the Th site of the ThRu 2 Si 2 metal. The magnetization curves M vs H / T indicate a strong uniaxial magnetic anisotropy along the tetragonal c -axis as well as a strong reduction of the 5 f moment of U ions. A possible interpretation based on the recent developments of the S =1/2 two-channel Kondo model is given.