Uniaxial ferromagnetism in the kagome metal TbV6Sn6

Abstract

The synthesis and characterization of the vanadium-based kagome metal TbV${_6}$Sn${_6}$ is presented. X-ray measurements confirm this material forms with the same crystal structure type as the recently investigated kagome metals GdV$_6$Sn$_6$ and YV$_6$Sn$_6$, with space group symmetry P6/mmm. A signature of a phase transition at 4.1K is observed in heat capacity, resistivity, and magnetic susceptibility measurements, and both resistivity and magnetization measurements exhibit hysteresis in magnetic field. Furthermore, a strikingly large anisotropy in the magnetic susceptibility was observed, with the c-axis susceptibility nearly 100 times the ab plane susceptibility at 2K. This is highly suggestive of uniaxial ferromagnetism, and the large size of 9.4$\mu_b$/f.u. indicates the Tb$^{3+}$ $4f$ electronic moments cooperatively align perpendicular to the V kagome lattice plane. The entropy at the phase transition is nearly Rln(2), indicating that the CEF ground state of the Tb$^{3+}$ ion is a doublet, and therefore the sublattice of $4f$ electrons in this material can be shown to map at low temperatures to the Ising model in a D$_{6h}$ symmetry environment. Hall measurements at temperatures from 300K to 1.7K can be described by two-band carrier transport at temperatures below around 150K, with a large increase in both hole and electron mobilities, similar to YV$_6$Sn$_6$, and an anomalous Hall effect is seen below the ordering temperature. Angle-resolved photoemission measurements above the magnetic ordering temperature reveal typical kagome dispersions. Our study presents TbV${_6}$Sn${_6}$ as an ideal system to study the interplay between Ising ferromagnetism and non-trivial electronic states emerging from a kagome lattice.