The Temperature Dependence of the Magnetization Process of the Kondo Insulator YbB12

Abstract

The properties of the Kondo insulator in a strong magnetic field are one of the most intriguing subjects in condensed matter physics. The Kondo insulating state is expected to be suppressed by magnetic fields, which results in the dramatic change in the electronic state. We have studied the magnetization process of one of the prototypical Kondo insulators YbB 12 at several temperatures in magnetic fields of up to 80 T. The metamagnetism due to the insulator-metal (IM) transition seen around 50 T was found to become significantly broadened at approximately 30 K. This characteristic temperature T * ≈ 30 K in YbB 12 is an order of magnitude lower than the Kondo temperature T K = 240 K. Our results suggest that there is an energy scale smaller than the Kondo temperature that is important to understanding the nature of Kondo insulators.