Condensed-Matter Physics & Materials Science Seminar

While charge carriers in crystalline structures can be located close to the nuclei or establish a delocalized character, they often epitomize strong fluctuations at intermediate regimes where emergent quantum phases show an intricate coupling among various degrees of freedom. Kondo materials are particularly interesting model systems to investigate strongly correlated phenomena, because they often possess small energy scales that are highly susceptible to macroscopic constraints. I will present recent neutron and X-ray scattering results on the series Nd1-xCexCoIn5 and Sm1-xYxS, where the ground state properties were tuned either via chemical substitution or magnetic field. We find that Nd substitution in CeCoIn5 affects the magnetic coupling parameters, triggering a change in the magnetic symmetry that is offset from the emergence of coherent heavy bands and unconventional superconductivity. Intriguingly, another magneto-superconducting phase with altered coupling is observed in Nd0.05Ce0.95CoIn5 at large magnetic fields. Sm1-xYxS features a transition towards an intermediate valence state under yttrium doping. Our results unravel a Kondo-triggered Lifshitz-transition in the mixed-valence state, which dives an unusually strong charge localization at low temperatures.