NMR evidence of anisotropic Kondo liquid behavior in CeIrIn5.

We report detailed Knight-shift measurements of the two indium sites in the heavy-fermion compound CeIrIn5 as a function of temperature and field orientation. We find that the Knight-shift anomaly is orientation dependent, with a crossover temperature T* that varies by 50% as the field is rotated from (001) to (100). This result suggests that the hybridization between the Ce 4f states and the itinerant conduction electrons is anisotropic, a result that reflects its collective origin, and may lead to anisotropic Kondo liquid behavior and unconventional superconductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]