Evidence for short-range antiferromagnetic fluctuations in Kondo-insulating YbB12

The spin dynamics of mixed-valence YbB12 has been studied by inelastic neutron scattering on a high-quality single crystal. In the Kondo-insulating regime realized at low temperature, the spectra exhibit a spin-gap structure with two sharp, dispersive, in-gap excitations at E = 14.5 and approximately 20 meV. The lower mode is shown to be associated with short-range correlations near the antiferromagnetic wave vector q0 = (1/2, 1/2, 1/2). Its properties are in overall agreement with those expected for a "spin exciton'' branch in an indirect hybridization gap semiconductor.