Heavy fermions in high magnetic fields

摘要

Heavy fermion materials are prototypical strongly correlated electron systems, where the strong electron–electron interactions lead to a wide range of novel phenomena and emergent phases of matter. Due to the low energy scales, the relative strengths of the Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida (RKKY) and Kondo interactions can often be readily tuned by non-thermal control parameters such as pressure, doping, or applied magnetic fields, which can give rise to quantum criticality and unconventional superconductivity. Here we provide a brief overview of research into heavy fermion materials in high magnetic fields, focussing on three main areas. Firstly we review the use of magnetic fields as a tuning parameter, and in particular the ability to realize different varieties of quantum critical behaviors. We then discuss the properties of heavy fermion superconductors in magnetic fields, where experiments in applied fields can reveal the nature of the order parameter, and induce new novel phenomena. Finally we report recent studies of topological Kondo systems, including topological Kondo insulators and Kondo–Weyl semimetals. Here experiments in magnetic fields can be used to probe the topologically non-trivial Fermi surface, as well as related field-induced phenomena such as the chiral anomaly and topological Hall effect.