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Physics of the quantum critical point is one of the most perplexing topics in current condensed-matter physics. Its conclusive understanding is forestalled by the scarcity of experimental systems displaying novel aspects of quantum criticality. We present comprehensive experimental evidence of a magnetic field-tuned tricritical point separating paramagnetic, antiferromagnetic, and metamagnetic phases in the compound CePtIn4 Analyzing field variations of its magnetic susceptibility, magnetoresistance, and specific heat at very low temperatures, we trace modifications of the antiferromagnetic structure of the compound. Upon applying a magnetic field of increasing strength, the system undergoes metamagnetic transitions which persist down to the lowest temperature investigated, exhibiting first-order-like boundaries separating magnetic phases. This yields a unique phase diagram where the second-order phase transition line terminates at a tricritical point followed by 2 first-order lines reaching quantum critical end points as [Formula: see text] 0. Our findings demonstrate that CePtIn4 provides innovative perspective for studies of quantum criticality.
RESUMEN
When a second-order magnetic phase transition is tuned to zero temperature by a nonthermal parameter, quantum fluctuations are critically enhanced, often leading to the emergence of unconventional superconductivity. In these "quantum critical" superconductors it has been widely reported that the normal-state properties above the superconducting transition temperature T(c) often exhibit anomalous non-Fermi liquid behaviors and enhanced electron correlations. However, the effect of these strong critical fluctuations on the superconducting condensate below T(c) is less well established. Here we report measurements of the magnetic penetration depth in heavy-fermion, iron-pnictide, and organic superconductors located close to antiferromagnetic quantum critical points, showing that the superfluid density in these nodal superconductors universally exhibits, unlike the expected T-linear dependence, an anomalous 3/2 power-law temperature dependence over a wide temperature range. We propose that this noninteger power law can be explained if a strong renormalization of effective Fermi velocity due to quantum fluctuations occurs only for momenta k close to the nodes in the superconducting energy gap Δ(k). We suggest that such "nodal criticality" may have an impact on low-energy properties of quantum critical superconductors.
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The aluminides CePd2Al2, CePd3Al3, and CePd4Al4 were synthesized and their properties studied by X-ray diffraction, magnetic, heat capacity, and electrical transport measurements. The crystal structures of CePd2Al2 and CePd4Al4 were determined and refined from the single-crystal X-ray diffraction data, while that of CePd3Al3 was designed by the trial-and-error method on the basis of crystal chemistry considerations and refined by the Rietveld method from the X-ray powder diffraction data. All three compounds were found to crystallize in the tetragonal space group P4/nmm with Z = 2. The lattice parameters of CePd2Al2 are a = 4.3974(9) Å and c = 9.871(4) Å. Those of CePd3Al3 are a = 4.3045(7) Å and c = 13.4426(18) Å, while those of CePd4Al4 are a = 4.325(2) Å and c = 16.230(5) Å. The structures represent a new homologous series built of structural units of the CaBe2Ge2- and CsCl-type. The three compounds were established to order antiferromagnetically at 2.5(1) K, 3.5(1) K, and 2.6(1) K for CePd2Al2, CePd3Al3, and CePd4Al4, respectively. All of them are Kondo lattices with the characteristic energy scale of 3-7 K.
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Th-containing superconducting high entropy system with the nominal composition (NbTa)[Formula: see text](MoWTh)[Formula: see text] was synthesized. Its structural and physical properties were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, specific heat, resistivity and magnetic measurements. Two main phases of alloy were observed: major bcc structure and minor fcc. The experimental results were supported by numerical simulation by the DFT Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method with the coherent potential approximation (KKR-CPA).
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We report point-contact spectroscopy measurements on heavy fermion cousins CeCoIn5, Ce2PdIn8and Ce3PdIn11to systematically study the hybridization betweenfand conduction electrons. Below a temperatureT*, the spectrum of each compound exhibits an evolving Fano-like conductance shape, superimposed on a sloping background, that suggests the development of hybridization between localfand itinerant conduction electrons in the coherent heavy fermion state belowT*. We present a quantitative analysis of the conductance curves with a two-channel model to compare the tunneling process between normal metallic silver particles in our soft point-contact and heavy-fermion single crystals CeCoIn5, Ce2PdIn8and Ce3PdIn11.
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Single crystals of the ternary cerium arsenide CeAgAs2 were grown by chemical vapor transport. They were studied by means of x-ray diffraction, magnetization, heat capacity and electrical transport measurements. The experimental research was supplemented with electronic band structure calculations. The compound was confirmed to order antiferromagnetically at the Néel temperature of 4.9 K and to undergo metamagnetic transition in a field of 0.5 T at 1.72 K. The electrical resistivity shows distinct increase at low temperatures, which origin is discussed in terms of pseudo-gap formation in the density of states at the Fermi level and quantum corrections to the resistivity in the presence of atom disorder due to crystal structure imperfections.
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We present the results of our comprehensive investigation on the antiferromagnetic heavy-fermion superconductor Ce3PtIn11 carried out by means of electrical transport, heat capacity and ac magnetic susceptibility measurements, performed on single-crystalline specimens down to 50 mK in external magnetic fields up to 9 T. Our experimental results elucidate a complex magnetic field - temperature phase diagram which contains both first- and second-order field-induced magnetic transitions and highlights the emergence of field stabilized phases. Remarkably, a prominent metamagnetic transition was found to occur at low temperatures and strong magnetic fields. In turn, the results obtained in the superconducting phase of Ce3PtIn11 corroborate an unconventional nature of Cooper pairs formed by heavy quasiparticles. The compound is an almost unique example of a heavy fermion system in which superconductivity may coexist microscopically with magnetically ordered state.
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A polycrystalline sample of La2NiSi3 was investigated by means of heat capacity, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, electrical resistivity and magnetoresistivity measurements. The compound was basically characterized as a Pauli paramagnet with metallic-like electrical conductivity, notably reduced in magnitude and weakly temperature dependent, as is usually observed for atomically disordered systems. Furthermore, the experimental data revealed the presence of a small amount of paramagnetic impurities. As a result, the low-temperature electrical resistivity in La2NiSi3 was found to be governed by both quantum corrections due to electron-electron interactions ([Formula: see text] contribution) and spin-flip Kondo scattering ([Formula: see text] contribution). The presence of paramagnetic impurities led to an increase in s-electron spin splitting due to the s-d interactions, manifested by a B (1/2) dependence of the magnetoresistivity, anomalously observed in the present study for thermal energy being larger than the Zeeman splitting energy [Formula: see text].
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Single crystals of Ce2PdGa12 were studied by means of specific heat and electrical transport measurements, performed in wide ranges of temperature and magnetic field strength. The results corroborate the antiferromagnetic ordering reported in the literature, yet seem to exclude the heavy-fermion nature of the compound that has been previously suggested. The derived magnetic phase diagram involves a tricritical point that separates the phase boundaries of second- and first-order character. The transition from the antiferromagnetic state to a magnetic field-induced paramagnetic state realized in strong fields seems to be governed by a spin-flip mechanism without involving any intermediate magnetic phases.
RESUMEN
Metamagnetic transitions in CePd5Ge3 were investigated by means of low-temperature magnetization, magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity and magnetoresistivity measurements. In transverse magnetic fields applied in a direction close to the b-axis the antiferromagnetic structure of the compound undergoes two successive transitions, first to a spin-flop phase and then to a paramagnetic phase with field-induced ferromagnetic-like alignment of the Ce magnetic moments. In contrast, a single anomaly occurs in the magnetic field dependences of the resistivity in a transverse magnetic field applied close to the c-axis, which reflects a direct transition from antiferromagnetic to paramagnetic state. Such behavior is in agreement with theoretical descriptions of metamagnetic transitions in uniaxial antiferromagnets. The experimental magnetic and electrical transport data indicate that the b-axis is the easy axis of magnetization in CePd5Ge3.