Charge fluctuations in the intermediate-valence ground state of SmCoIn₅

The microscopic mechanism of heavy band formation, relevant for unconventional superconductivity in CeCoIn₅ and other Ce-based heavy fermion materials, depends strongly on the efficiency with which f electrons are delocalized from the rare earth sites and participate in a Kondo lattice. Replacing Ce³⁺ (4f 1, J = 5/2) with Sm³⁺ (4f 5, J = 5/2), we show that a combination of crystal field and on-site Coulomb repulsion causes SmCoIn₅ to exhibit a Γ7 ground state similar to CeCoIn5 with multiple f electrons. Remarkably, we also find that with this ground state, SmCoIn₅ exhibits a temperature-induced valence crossover consistent with a Kondo scenario, leading to increased delocalization of f holes below a temperature scale set by the crystal field, Tv ≈ 60 K. Our result provides evidence that in the case of many f electrons, the crystal field remains the most important tuning knob in controlling the efficiency of delocalization near a heavy fermion quantum critical point, and additionally clarifies that charge fluctuations are present and may play a generally important role in the ground state of "115" materials.