The physics and chemistry of heavy fermions

Z Fisk; J L Sarrao; J L Smith; J D Thompson

doi:10.1073/pnas.92.15.6663

The physics and chemistry of heavy fermions

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1995 Jul 18;92(15):6663-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.15.6663.

Authors

Z Fisk¹, J L Sarrao, J L Smith, J D Thompson

Affiliation

¹ National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.

Abstract

The heavy fermions are a subset of the f-electron intermetallic compounds straddling the magnetic/nonmagnetic boundary. Their low-temperature properties are characterized by an electronic energy scale of order 1-10 K. Among the low-temperature ground states observed in heavy fermion compounds are exotic superconductors and magnets, as well as unusual semiconductors. We review here the current experimental and theoretical understanding of these systems.