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ISSP Stay Report of Prof. Premala Chandra

Prof. Premala Chandra
Prof. Premala Chandra

From mid-March to mid-May 2018, I was very fortunate to be an ISSP Visiting Researcher, hosted by Prof. Toshiro Sakakibara and Prof. Satoru Nakatsuji, as part of my sabbatical from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers University (USA). As a materials-inspired theorist, I have a long-standing interest in strongly correlated systems where competing interactions often lead to unconventional spin and charge phases, particularly near quantum critical points. I am particularly fascinated by experiments in the Nakatsuji group on heavy fermion materials that exhibit exotic patterns associated with the physics of multipoles in metallic environments. Specific collaborative projects initiated during my visit with Prof. Nakatsuji and members of his group include

(i) Identification and Characterization of Octupolar Order in PrV2Al20 based on a symmetry-based analysis suggesting a strain-induced anomalous Hall effect in the absence of ambient magnetization

(ii) Observation of Critical Charge Modes in a Strange Metal where synchrotron-radiation Mossbauer spectroscopy of the material beta-YbAlB4 is interpreted as probing the slow charge response in a quantum critical phase where electrons are partially localized

(iii) Entangled Multipoles in Metallic Environments: Introduction to the Pr1- 2-20 Compounds, an invited review (Reports on the Progress of Physics) on the materials PrTr2Al20 (Tr=transition metal), studied extensively in the Nakatsuji group. The broad range of their observed physical properties will be discussed in conjunction with a summary of the current theoretical understanding and the open questions presented by this intriguing new family of materials.

Overall, I found my visit very stimulating and I look forward to continuing these collaborative projects with Prof. Nakatsuji and his group in the future. I am most appreciative of their warm hospitality on all levels, professional and personal, and I look forward to my next visit to Kashiwa in the not-too-distant future!

Premala Chandra
Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy Rutgers University (USA)

(Published on: Monday July 2nd, 2018)