Interplay between Fe 3d and Ce 4f magnetism and Kondo interaction in CeFeAs1−xPxO probed by 75As and 31P NMR

Abstract

A detailed 31P (I = 1/2) and 75As (I = 3/2) NMR study on polycrystalline CeFeAs1−xPxO alloys is presented. The magnetism of CeFeAsO changes drastically upon P substitution on the As site. CeFePO is a heavy fermion system without long-range order whereas CeFeAsO exhibits an Fe 3d SDW type of ordering accompanied by a structural transition from tetragonal (TT) to orthorhombic (OT) structure. Furthermore, Ce 4f1 orders antiferromagnetically (AFM) at low temperature. At the critical concentration where the Fe magnetism is diminished the Ce–Ce interaction changes to a ferromagnetic (FM) type of ordering. Three representative samples of the CeFeAs1−xPxO (x = 0.05, 0.3 and 0.9) series are systematically investigated. (1) For the x = 0.05 alloy a drastic change of the linewidth at 130 K indicates the AFM-SDW type of ordering of Fe and the structural change from the TT to the OT phase. The linewidth roughly measures the internal field in the ordered state and the transition is most likely first order. The small and nearly constant shift from 31P and 75As NMR suggests the presence of competing hyperfine interactions between the nuclear spins and the 4f and 3d ions of Ce and Fe. (2) For the x = 0.3 alloy, the evolution of the Fe-SDW type of order takes place at around 70 K corroborating the results of bulk measurement and μSR. Here we found evidence for phase separation of paramagnetic and magnetic SDW phases. (3) In contrast to the heavy fermion CeFePO for the x = 0.9 alloy a phase transition is found at 2 K. The field-dependent NMR shift gives evidence of FM ordering. Above the ordering the spin–lattice relaxation rate 31(1/T1) shows unconventional, non-Korringa-like behaviour which indicates a complex interplay of Kondo and FM fluctuations.