Connection between &lt;em&gt;f&lt;/em&gt;-electron correlations and magnetic excitations in UTe&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;

Halloran, Thomas; Czajka, Peter; Saucedo Salas, Gicela; Frank, Corey E.; Kang, Chang-Jong; Rodriguez-Rivera, J.A.; Lass, Jakob; Mazzone, Daniel G.; Janoschek, Marc; Kotliar, Gabriel; Butch, Nicholas P.

doi:10.1038/s41535-024-00720-9

Connection between f-electron correlations and magnetic excitations in UTe₂

Halloran T, Czajka P, Saucedo Salas G, Frank CE, Kang C-J, Rodriguez-Rivera JA, Lass J, Mazzone DG, Janoschek M, Kotliar G & Butch NP

Citation

Halloran, T., Czajka, P., Saucedo Salas, G., Frank, C. E., Kang, C. J., Rodriguez-Rivera, J. A., … Butch, N. P. (2025). Connection between f-electron correlations and magnetic excitations in UTe₂. npj Quantum Materials, 10(2), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-024-00720-9

Persistent URL https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/psi/islandora/object/psi:67859

The detailed anisotropic dispersion of the low-temperature, low-energy magnetic excitations of the candidate spin-triplet superconductor UTe₂ is revealed using inelastic neutron scattering. The magnetic excitations emerge from the Brillouin zone boundary at the high symmetry Y and T points and disperse along the crystallographic -axis. In applied magnetic fields to at least μ₀H = 11 T along the , the magnetism is found to be field-independent in the (hk0) plane. The scattering intensity is consistent with that expected from U³⁺/U⁴⁺ f-electron spins with preferential orientation along the crystallographic -axis, and a fluctuating magnetic moment of μ_eff=1.7(5) μ_B. We propose interband spin excitons arising from f-electron hybridization as a possible origin of the magnetic excitations in UTe₂.