Magnetic field effect on Yb-based heavy fermions near magnetic-nonmagnetic transition

Abstract

Recently magnetic field effects on f electron systems in the vicinity of a magnetic-nonmagnetic transition have attracted much interest. In order to investigate the mechanism of field induced modifications in heavy fermion systems, especially in terms of valent degrees of freedom, we have carried out the X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurement on the newly discovered heavy fermion material YbCo2Zn20 which exhibits extremely large specific heat at low temperatures. Our results show that the Yb valence of YbCo2Zn20 is very close to +3 over the whole temperature range of measurement. Besides, no significant change in the absorption spectrum was observed up to the field of 10 T. This contrasts to the previously reported strong field dependence in the resistivity, followed by an expansion of the Fermi liquid regime with increasing field. The obtained results therefore lead to the conclusion that the valent degrees of freedom play a minor role in the strong field dependence of the heavy fermion systems in this compound.