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Evidence for easy-plane XY ferromagnetism in heavy-fermion quantum-critical CeRh6Ge4

Riku Yamamoto1,*,†, Sejun Park1,*, Zachary W. Riedel1, Phurba Sherpa1,2, Joe D. Thompson1, Filip Ronning1, Eric D. Bauer1, Adam P. Dioguardi1,‡, and Michihiro Hirata1,§

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
  • ‡Contact author: apd@lanl.gov
  • §Contact author: mhirata@lanl.gov

Phys. Rev. B 112, 155152 – Published 23 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/z17k-jz1s

Abstract

We report Ge73 nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) and magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in the heavy-fermion quantum-critical ferromagnet CeRh6Ge4. NQR and NMR spectral measurements at the two nonequivalent Ge sites reveal electric field gradient tensors and the directions of their principal axes relative to the hexagonal basal plane. The spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 experiments reveal a clear critical slowing down approaching the ferromagnetic transition. 1/T1 in the paramagnetic state is found to be predominantly caused by fluctuating 4f-local moments. The Knight shift shows Curie-Weiss behavior at high temperature and a deviation from this below T*≈25K possibly due to a mixture of crystalline electric field effects and Kondo screening. Order-parameter-like behavior of hyperfine fields at the Ge sites and ferromagnetic signal enhancement are observed in Zeeman-perturbed NQR, with uniform ferromagnetic order and a small ordered moment of ≈0.26μB/Ce confined within the ab plane. The ordered moment shows a notable in-plane magnetic stiffness against out-of-plane radio-frequency fields and has an (XY-type) in-plane isotropic nature. Our results reveal a strong easy-plane anisotropy of 4f-electron moment and suggest an involved interplay of hybridization and local moment physics in this quantum critical heavy-fermion ferromagnet.

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