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Orbital degrees of freedom in condensed matters could play important roles in forming a variety of exotic electronic states by interacting with conduction electrons. In 4f electron systems, because of strong intra-atomic spin-orbit coupling, an orbitally degenerate state inherently carries quadrupolar degrees of freedom. The present work has focussed on a purely quadrupole-active system PrIr2Zn20 showing superconductivity in the presence of an antiferroquadrupole order at TQ = 0.11 K. We observed non-Fermi liquid (NFL) behaviors emerging in the electrical resistivity and the 4f contribution to the specific heat, C_4f, in the paramagnetic state at T > TQ. Moreover, in magnetic fields below 6 T, all data set of the electrical resistivity and C_4f(T) are well scaled with characteristic temperatures T0's. This is the first observation of the NFL state in the nonmagnetic quadrupole-active system, whose origin is intrinsically different from that observed in the vicinity of the conventional quantum critical point. It implies possible formation of a quadrupole Kondo lattice resulting from hybridization between the quadrupoles and the conduction electrons. Below 0.13 K, the electrical resistivity and C_4f(T) exhibit anomalies as B approaches 5 T. This is the manifestation of a field-induced crossover toward a Fermi-liquid ground state in the quadrupole Kondo lattice., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures

The thermal conductivity of YbRh2Si2 has been measured down to very low temperatures under field in the basal plane. An additional channel for heat transport appears below 30 mK, both in the antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic states, respectively below and above the critical field suppressing the magnetic order. This excludes antiferromagnetic magnons as the origin of this additional contribution to thermal conductivity. Moreover, this low temperature contribution prevails a definite conclusion on the validity or violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law at the field-induced quantum critical point. At high temperature in the paramagnetic state, the thermal conductivity is sensitive to ferromagnetic fluctuations, previously observed by NMR or neutron scattering and required for the occurrence of the sharp electronic spin resonance fracture., Comment: 11 pages + Supplementary Materials

We report measurements of in-plane electrical and thermal transport properties in the limit $T \rightarrow 0$ near the unconventional quantum critical point in the heavy-fermion metal $\beta$-YbAlB$_4$. The high Kondo temperature $T_K$ $\simeq$ 200 K in this material allows us to probe transport extremely close to the critical point, at unusually small values of $T/T_K < 5 \times 10^{-4}$. Here we find that the Wiedemann-Franz law is obeyed at the lowest temperatures, implying that the Landau quasiparticles remain intact in the critical region. At finite temperatures we observe a non-Fermi liquid T-linear dependence of inelastic scattering processes to energies lower than those previously accessed. These processes have a weaker temperature dependence than in comparable heavy fermion quantum critical systems, and suggest a new temperature scale of $T \sim 0.3 K$ which signals a sudden change in character of the inelastic scattering., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

The thermal conductivity measurements have been performed on the heavy-fermion compound YbRh2Si2 down to 0.04 K and under magnetic fields through a quantum critical point (QCP) at Bc = 0.66 T || c-axis. In the limit as T -> 0, we find that the Wiedemann-Franz law is satisfied within experimental error at the QCP despite the destruction of the standard signature of Fermi liquid. Our results place strong constraints on models that attempt to describe the nature of unconventional quantum criticality of YbRh2Si2., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

The thermoelectric coefficients have been measured on the Yb-based heavy fermion compounds beta-YbAlB4 and YbRh2Si2 down to a very low temperature. We observe a striking difference in the behavior of the Seebeck coefficient, S in the vicinity of the Quantum Critical Point (QCP) in the two systems. As the critical field is approached, S/T enhances in beta-YbAlB4 but is drastically reduced in YbRh2Si2. While in the former system, the ratio of thermopower-to-specific heat remains constant, it drastically drops near the QCP in YbRh2Si2. In both systems, on the other hand, the Nernst coefficient shows a diverging behavior near the QCP. The results provide a new window to the way various energy scales of the system behave and eventually vanish near a QCP.

The field-orientation dependent thermal conductivity of the heavy-fermion superconductor UPt$_3$ was measured down to very low temperatures and under magnetic fields throughout three distinct superconducting phases: A, B, and C phases. In the C phase, a striking twofold oscillation of the thermal conductivity within the basal plane is resolved reflecting the superconducting gap structure with a line of node along the a axis. Moreover, we find an abrupt vanishing of the oscillation across a transition to the B phase, as a clear indication of a change of gap symmetries. We also identify extra two line nodes below and above the equator in both B and C phases. From these results together with the symmetry consideration, the gap function of UPt$_3$ is conclusively determined as a $E_{1u}$ representation characterized by a combination of two line nodes at the tropics and point nodes at the poles., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

We uncover a strong anisotropy in both the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) and the magnetoresistance of the chiral spin states of Pr$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$. The AHE appearing below 1.5 K at zero magnetic field shows hysteresis which is most pronounced for fields cycled along the [111] direction. This hysteresis is compatible with the field-induced growth of domains composed by the 3-in 1-out spin states which remain coexisting with the 2-in 2-out spin ice manifold once the field is removed. Only for fields applied along the [111] direction, we observe a large positive magnetoresistance and Shubnikov de Haas oscillations above a metamagnetic critical field. These observations suggest the reconstruction of the electronic structure of the conduction electrons by the field-induced spin-texture., Comment: 7 pages and 5 figures (including Supplementary Material), Accepted in Physical Review Letters

The thermal transport measurements have been made on the Fe-based superconductor Lu2Fe3Si5 (Tc ~ 6 K) down to a very low temperature Tc/120. The field and temperature dependences of the thermal conductivity confirm the multigap superconductivity with fully opened gaps on the whole Fermi surfaces. In comparison to MgB2 as a typical example of the multigap superconductor in a p-electron system, Lu2Fe3Si5 reveals a remarkably enhanced quasiparticle heat conduction in the mixed state. The results can be interpreted as a consequence of the electronic correlations derived from Fe 3d-electrons., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Thermal transport measurements have been performed on single-crystalline Co-doped BaFe2As2 down to 0.1 K and under magnetic fields up to 7 T. Significant peak anomalies are observed in both thermal conductivity and thermal Hall conductivity below Tc as an indication of the enhancement of the quasiparticle mean-free path. Moreover, we find a sizable residual T-linear term in thermal conductivity, possibly due to a finite quasiparticle density of states in the superconducting gap induced by impurity pair breaking. Our findings support a pairing symmetry compatible with the theoretically predicted sign-reversing s-wave state., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Journal of the Physical Society of Japan

Muon spin relaxation experiments have been performed in the pyrochlore iridate Pr_2Ir_2O_7 for temperatures in the range 0.025-250 K. Kubo-Toyabe relaxation functions are observed up to > 200 K, indicating static magnetism over this temperature range. The T -> 0 static muon spin relaxation rate Delta(0) ~ 8 mus^-1 implies a weak quasistatic moment (~0.1 mu_B). The temperature dependence of Delta is highly non-mean-field-like, decreasing smoothly by orders of magnitude but remaining nonzero below ~150 K. The data rule out ordering of the full Pr^3+ CEF ground-state moment (3.0 mu_B) down to 0.025 K. The weak static magnetism is most likely due to hyperfine-enhanced ^141Pr nuclear magnetism. The dynamic relaxation rate lambda increases markedly below ~20 K, probably due to slowing down of spin fluctuations in the spin-liquid state. At low temperatures lambda is strong and temperature-independent, indicative of a high density of low-lying spin excitations as is common in frustrated antiferromagnets., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Proc. 11th Int. Conf. on Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation and Resonance (muSR2008)

We synthesized single crystalline and policrystalline MgB_2 under ambient pressures. The single crystals of MgB_2 were of good quality, where the crystal structure refinements were successfully converged with R = 0.020. The specific heat of policrystalline MgB_2 samples has been measured in a temperature range between 2 and 60 K in magnetic field up to 6 T. The measurement gave the coefficient of the linear term in the electronic specific heat, gamma = 3.51 mJ/K^2 mol, and the jump of the specific heat, 2.8 mJ/K^2 mol at 38.5 K. It is shown from the analysis of the specific heat that the electronic specific heat in the superconducting state differs largely from the conventional BCS weak coupling theory. From the results of measurements of the magnetic properties on single crystal samples, we found a sharp superconducting transition at 38 K with transition width Delta Tc = 0.8 K and the superconducting anisotropy ratio gamma increasing from about 1 near Tc to 4.0 at 25 K., Comment: 6 pages, 10 figures