Occidental College




The Thermal Expansion of the Heavy Fermion Antiferromagnet YbAgGe
Caitlin Brown
Project Advisor: George Schmiedeshoff

     We searched for evidence of quantum phase transitions in the heavy fermion antiferromagnet YbAgGe with high magnetic fields applied along the crystallographic c-axis. Using a capacitive dilatometer we measured the thermal expansion of the crystal in fixed magnetic fields ranging from 0T to 9T. With this information and recent magnetostriction data we created a phase diagram that shows two regions of magnetic order in the magnetic field-temperature plane. We discuss these results in light of recent work suggesting quantum phase transitions in this material.

Support provided by: Faculty-Student Summer Research Fellowship

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