- Willers, T;
- Cezar, JC;
- Brookes, NB;
- Hu, Z;
- Strigari, F;
- Körner, P;
- Hollmann, N;
- Schmitz, D;
- Bianchi, A;
- Fisk, Z;
- Tanaka, A;
- Tjeng, LH;
- Severing, A
We have been able to induce a linear dichroic signal in the Yb M(5) x-ray absorption white line of cubic YbInNi(4) by the application of a magnetic field. The nonzero integrated intensity of the magnetic field induced dichroic spectrum indicates a net noncubic 4f orbital polarization. A quantitative analysis of the temperature and field strength dependence establishes that the crystal-field ground state is a Γ(8) quartet. The results demonstrate the potential of magnetic field induced linear dichroism as a new powerful approach for the investigation of the degeneracy and orbital degrees of freedom of cubic heavy-fermion and Kondo systems.