17 pages, 5 figures, Invited review paper in the 17th International Conference on High Pressure in Semiconductor Physics (HPSP-17) & Workshop on High-pressure Study on Superconducting (WHS)
Unconventional quantum critical phenomena observed in Yb-based periodic crystals such as YbRh$_2$Si$_2$ and $β$-YbAlB$_4$ have been one of the central issues in strongly correlated electron systems. The common criticality has been discovered in quasicrystal Yb$_{15}$Au$_{51}$Al$_{34}$, which surprisingly persists under pressure at least up to $P=1.5$ GPa. The $T/H$ scaling where the magnetic susceptibility can be expressed as a single scaling function of the ratio of temperature $T$ and magnetic field $H$ has been discovered in the quasicrystal, which is essentially the same as that observed in $β$-YbAlB$_4$. Recently, the $T/H$ scaling as well as the common criticality has been also observed even in the approximant crystal Yb$_{14}$Au$_{51}$Al$_{35}$ under pressure. The theory of critical Yb-valence fluctuation gives a natural explanation for these striking phenomena in a unified way.
We report on ac magnetic susceptibility measurements under pressure of the Au-Al-Yb alloy, a crystalline approximant to the icosahedral quasicrystal that shows unconventional quantum criticality. In describing the susceptibility as $χ(T)^{-1} - χ(0)^{-1} \propto T^γ$, we find that $χ(0)^{-1}$ decreases with increasing pressure and vanishes to zero at the critical pressure $P_{\rm c} \simeq 2$ GPa, with $γ~ (\simeq 0.5)$ unchanged. We suggest that this quantum criticality emerges owing to critical valence fluctuations. Above $P_{\rm c}$, the approximant undergoes a magnetic transition at $T \si…
Quantum criticality has been invoked as being essential to the understanding of a wide range of exotic electronic behavior, including heavy Fermion and unconventional superconductivity, but conclusive evidence of quantum critical fluctuations has been elusive in many materials of current interest. An expected characteristic feature of quantum criticality is power law behavior of thermodynamic quantities as a function of a non-thermal tuning parameter close to the quantum critical point (QCP). In the present work, we observe power law behavior of the critical temperature of the coupled nematic/…
We study the relationship between the nematic phases of Sr$_3$Ru$_2$O$_7$ and quantum criticality. At ambient pressure, one nematic phase is associated with a metamagnetic quantum critical end point (QCEP) when the applied magnetic field is near the \textit{c}-axis. We show, however, that this metamagnetic transition does not produce the same nematic signatures when the QCEP is reached by hydrostatic pressure with the field applied in the \textit{ab}-plane. Moreover, a second nematic phase, that is seen for field applied in the \textit{ab}-plane close to, but not right at, a second metamagneti…
The mechanism of the emergence of robust quantum criticality in the heavy-electron quasicrystal Yb15Al34Au51 is analyzed theoretically. By constructing a minimal model for the quasicrystal and its crystalline approximant, which contain concentric shell structures with Yb and Al-Au clusters, we show that a set of quantum critical points of the first-order valence transition of Yb appears as spots in the ground-state phase diagram. Their critical regions overlap each other, giving rise to a wide quantum critical region. This well explains the robust criticality observed in Yb15Al34Au51 under pre…
We report spontaneous appearance of antiferromagnetic order in a model gapped quantum paramagnet Ni(Cl$_{1-x}$Br$_x$)$_2$$\cdot$4SC(NH$_2$)$_2$ induced by a change in bromine concentration x. This transition is qualitatively similar to a z = 1 magnetic quantum critical point. However, the observed critical scaling of thermodynamic and magnetic properties has rather unusual critical exponents.
Electrical transport measurements of the heavy fermion compound YbFe2Zn20 were carried out under pressures up to 8.23 GPa and down to temperatures of nearly 0.3 K. The pressure dependence of the low temperature Fermi-liquid state was assessed by fitting rho(T) = rho_0 + AT^n with n = 2 for T < T_FL. Power law analysis of the low temperature resistivities indicates n = 2 over a broad temperature range for P < 5 GPa. However, at higher pressures, the quadratic temperature dependence is only seen at the very lowest temperatures, and instead shows a wider range of n < 2 power law behavior in the l…
The strange electronic state of a class of materials which violates the predictions of conventional Fermi-liquid theory of metals remains enigmatic. Proximity to a quantum critical point is a possible origin of this non-Fermi liquid (NFL) behavior, which is usually accomplished by tuning the ground state with non-thermal control parameters such as chemical composition, magnetic field or pressure. We present the spin dynamics study of a stoichiometric NFL system CeRhBi, using low-energy inelastic neutron scattering (INS) and muon spin relaxation (muSR) measurements. It shows evidence for an ene…
The heavy fermion compound Ce$_{3}$Pd$_{20}$Si$_{6}$ displays unconventional quantum criticality as the lower of two consecutive phase transitions is fully suppressed by magnetic field. Here we report on the effects of pressure as additional tuning parameter. Specific heat and electrical resistivity measurements reveal a converse effect of pressure on the two transitions, leading to the merging of both transitions at 6.2 kbar. The field-induced quantum criticality is robust under pressure tuning. We rationalize our findings within an extended version of the global phase diagram for antiferroma…
An organic Mott insulator, $κ$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$Cu[N(CN)$_{2}$]Cl, was investigated by resistance measurements under continuously controllable He gas pressure. The first-order Mott transition was demonstrated by observation of clear jump in the resistance variation against pressure. Its critical endpoint at 38 K is featured by vanishing of the resistive jump and critical divergence in pressure derivative of resistance, $|\frac{1}{R}\frac{\partial R}{\partial P}|$, which are consistent with the prediction of the dynamical mean field theory and have phenomenological correspondence with the liquid…
The mechanism of emergence of robust quantum criticality in Yb- and Ce-based heavy electron systems under pressure is analyzed theoretically. By constructing a minimal model for quasicrystal Yb15Al34Au51 and its approximant, we show that quantum critical points of the first-order valence transition of Yb appear in the ground-state phase diagram with their critical regimes being overlapped to be unified, giving rise to a wide quantum critical regime. This well explains the robust unconventional criticality observed in Yb15Al34Au51 under pressure. We also discuss broader applicability of this me…
We report the temperature-pressure (T-P) phase diagram of CePt2In7 single crystals, especially the pressure evolution of the antiferromagnetic order and the emergence of superconductivity, which have been studied by electrical resistivity and ac calorimetry under nearly hydrostatic environments. Compared with its polycrystalline counterpart, bulk superconductivity coexists with antiferromagnetism in a much narrower pressure region. The possible existence of textured superconductivity and local quantum criticality also are observed in CePt2In7, exhibiting a remarkable similarity with CeRhIn5.
We have investigated the spin dynamics in the bilayered perovskite Sr3Ru2O7 as a function of magnetic field and temperature using 17O-NMR. This system sits close to a metamagnetic quantum critical point (MMQCP) for the field perpendicular to the ruthenium oxide planes. We confirm Fermi-liquid behavior at low temperatures except for a narrow field region close to the MMQCP. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate divided by temperature 1/T1T is enhanced on approaching the metamagnetic critical field of 7.9 T and at the critical field 1/T1T continues to increase and does not show Fermi- liquid …
The easily tuned balance among competing interactions in Kondo-lattice metals allows access to a zero-temperature, continuous transition between magnetically ordered and disordered phases, a quantum-critical point (QCP). Indeed, these highly correlated electron materials are prototypes for discovering and exploring quantum-critical states. Theoretical models proposed to account for the strange thermodynamic and electrical transport properties that emerge around the QCP of a Kondo lattice assume the presence of an indefinitely large number of itinerant charge carriers. Here, we report a systema…
LaCrGe$_3$ has attracted attention as a paradigm example of the avoidance of ferromagnetic (FM) quantum criticality in an itinerant magnet. By combining thermodynamic, transport, x-ray and neutron scattering as well as $μ$SR measurements, we refined the temperature-pressure phase diagram of LaCrGe$_3$. We provide thermodynamic evidence (i) for the first-order character of the FM transition when it is suppressed to low temperatures and (ii) for the formation of new phases at high pressures. From our microscopic data, we infer that short-range FM ordered clusters exist in these high-pressure pha…
Investigation of materials that exhibit quantum phase transition provides valuable insights into fundamental problems in physics. We present neutron scattering under pressure in a triangular-lattice antiferromagnet which has a quantum disorder in the low-pressure phase and a noncollinear structure in the high-pressure phase. The neutron spectrum continuously evolves through the critical pressure; a single mode in the disordered state becomes soft with the pressure, and it splits into gapless and gapped modes in the ordered phase. Extended spin-wave theory reveals that the longitudinal and tran…
The properties of the novel heavy fermion superconductor Ce$_3$PtIn$_{11}$ are investigated by thermodynamic and transport measurements at ambient and under hydrostatic pressure. At ambient pressure the compound exhibits two successive magnetic transitions at $T_1$ $\approx$ 2.2 K and $T_{\rm N}$ $\approx$ 2 K into antiferromagnetically ordered states and enters into a heavy fermion superconducting phase below $T_{\rm c}$ $\approx$ 0.32 K. The coexistence of long-range magnetic order and superconductivity is discussed in the context of the existence of the two crystallographically inequivalent…
Quantum criticality in Yb(Rh0.97Co0.03)2Si2 is investigated by means of resistivity and magnetoresistance. The partial substitution of Co leads to a stabilization of the magnetism as expected according to the application of chemical pressure for Yb systems. However, the signature of the Kondo-breakdown remains at the same position in the temperature-magnetic field phase diagram compared to stoichiometric YbRh2Si2. As a consequence, the Kondo-breakdown is situated within the antiferromagnetic phase. These results fit well within the global phase diagram under chemical pressure [1].
We report a metamagnetic critical point at (B*,T*)=(5.1T,1.1K) for magnetic fields applied perpendicular to the (tetragonal) c-axis of Sr3Ru2O7. First-order behaviour well below T* indicates that (B*,T*) marks a critical end-point that terminates a line of first-order metamagnetic transitions. The absence of first-order behaviour in the metamagnetic transition with B||c confirms that the non-Fermi liquid behaviour for B||c is underpinned by a metamagnetic quantum critical end-point for which T*->0. Scaling behaviour of the resistivity under hydrostatic pressure yields the surprising result tha…
We report resistivity measurements in the normal state of CeCoIn5 down to 40 mK and simultaneously in magnetic fields up to 9 T in the [001] crystallographic direction and under pressures up to 1.3 GPa. At ambient pressure the data are consistent with a field tuned quantum critical point coincident with the superconducting upper critical field H_{c2}, as observed previously. We find that with increasing pressure the quantum critical point moves inside the superconducting dome to lower fields. Thus, we can rule out that superconductivity is directly responsible for the non-Fermi liquid behavior…
We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements in the hidden order state of URu$_{2-x}$Re$_x$Si$_2$ with $x$ = 0.10. We observe that towards the ferromagnetic quantum critical point induced by the negative chemical pressure of Re-doping, the gapped incommensurate fluctuations are robust and comparable in intensity to the parent material. As the Re doping moves the system toward the quantum critical point, the commensurate spin fluctuations related to hidden order weaken, display a shortened lifetime and slow down. Halfway to the quantum critical point, the hidden order phase survives, alb…
The effect of uniaxial pressure on superconductivity was examined for a high-Tc cuprate La1.64Eu0.2Sr0.16CuO4, which is located at the boundary between the superconducting and stripe phases. We found remarkably large anisotropy of the uniaxial pressure effect not only between the in-plane and out-of-plane pressures but also within the CuO2-plane. When the pressure is applied along the tetragonal [110] direction, we found the largest pressure effect ever observed in cuprates, dTc/dP - 2.5 K/kbar, while the change of Tc was not appreciable when applied along [100]. This substantial in-plane anis…
The effect of pressure on the unique electronic state of the antiferromagnetic (AF) compound EuCu2Ge2 has been measured in a wide temperature range from 10 mK to 300 K by electrical resistivity measurements up to 10 GPa. The Neel temperature of TN = 15 K at ambient pressure increases monotonically with increasing pressure and becomes a maximum of TN = 27 K at 6.2 GPa but suddenly drops to zero at Pc = 6.5 GPa, suggesting the quantum critical point (QCP) of the valence transition of Eu from a nearly divalent state to that with trivalent weight. The rhomag0 and A values obtained from the low-tem…
Hall effect measurements were performed under pressure and magnetic field up to 2.2 GPa and 16 T on a single crystal of UCoAl. At ambient pressure, the system undergoes a first order metamagnetic transition at the critical field B_m = 0.7 T from a paramagnetic ground state to a field-induced ferromagnetic state. The Hall signal is linear at low field and shows a step-like anomaly at the transition, with only little change of the Hall coefficient. The anomaly is sharpest at the temperature of the critical end point T_0 = 12 K above which the first order metamagnetic transition becomes a crossov…
The mechanism of not diverging Grüneisen parameter in the quantum critical heavy-fermion quasicrystal (QC) Yb$_{15}$Al$_{34}$Au$_{51}$ is analyzed. We construct the formalism for calculating the specific heat $C_V(T)$, the thermal-expansion coefficient $α(T)$, and the Grüneisen parameter $Γ(T)$ near the quantum critical point of the Yb valence transition. By applying the framework to the QC, we calculate $C_V(T)$, $α(T)$, and $Γ(T)$, which explains the measurements. Not diverging $Γ(T)$ is attributed to the robustness of the quantum criticality in the QC under pressure. The difference in $Γ(T)…
The Grüneisen parameter, experimentally determined from the ratio of thermal expansion to specific heat, quantifies the pressure dependence of characteristic energy scales of matter. It is highly enhanced for Kondo lattice systems, whose properties strongly dependent on the pressure sensitive antiferromagnetic exchange interaction between f- and conduction electrons. In this review, we focus on the divergence of the Grüneisen parameter and its magnetic analogue, the adiabatic magnetocaloric effect, for heavy-fermion metals near quantum critical points. We compare experimental results with curr…
The temperature-pressure phase diagram of the ferromagnet LaCrGe$_3$ is determined for the first time from a combination of magnetization, muon-spin-rotation and electrical resistivity measurements. The ferromagnetic phase is suppressed near $2.1$~GPa, but quantum criticality is avoided by the appearance of a magnetic phase, likely modulated, AFM$_Q$. Our density functional theory total energy calculations suggest a near degeneracy of antiferromagnetic states with small magnetic wave vectors $Q$ allowing for the potential of an ordering wave vector evolving from $Q=0$ to finite $Q$, as expecte…
Pressure-induced superconductivity beyond magnetic quantum criticality in a Kondo ferromagnet
New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Center for Correlated Matter and School of Physics, Zhejiang University（浙江大学物理学院关联物质中心新基石科学实验室）；Hubei Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Materials and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei Normal University（湖北师范大学材料科学与工程学院光电材料与器件湖北省重点实验室）
The electronic structure and magnetic properties of hexagonal Sc$_3$In are calculated within density functional theory. We find that the Fermi energy lies in a region of flat Sc $d$ derived bands leading to a peak in the density of states and Stoner ferromagnetism. The calculated local spin density and generalized gradient approximation spin magnetizations are both enhanced with respect to experiment, which is an indication of significant quantum critical fluctuations, neglected in these approximations. We find, as expected, that the ferromagnetism is initially enhanced under pressure, meaning…
Electronic nematicity in correlated metals often occurs alongside another instability such as magnetism. As a result, the question remains whether nematicity alone can drive unconventional superconductivity or anomalous (quantum critical) transport in such systems. In FeSe, nematicity emerges in isolation, providing a unique opportunity to address this question. Studies to date, however, have proved inconclusive; while signatures of nematic criticality are observed upon sulfur substitution, they appear to be quenched under the application of pressure due to the emergent magnetism. Here, we stu…
Two ordering states, antiferromagnetism and nematicity, have been observed in most iron-based superconductors (SCs). In contrast to those SCs, the newly discovered SC CaK(Fe$_{1-x}$Ni$_x$)$_4$As$_4$ exhibits an antiferromagnetic (AFM) state, called hedgehog spin-vortex crystal structure, without nematic order, providing the opportunity for the investigation into the relationship between spin fluctuations and SC without any effects of nematic fluctuations. Our $^{75}$As nuclear magnetic resonance studies on CaK(Fe$_{1-x}$Ni$_x$)$_4$As$_4$ (0$\le x\le$ 0.049) revealed that CaKFe$_4$As$_4$ is loc…
A fundamental challenge to our current understanding of metals is the frequent observation of qualitative departures from Fermi liquid behavior. The standard view attributes such non-Fermi liquid phenomena to the scattering of electrons off quantum critical fluctuations of an underlying order parameter. While the possibility of non-Fermi liquid behavior isolated from the border of magnetism has long been speculated, no experimental confirmation has been made. Here we report on the observation of a strange metal region in the absence of a magnetic instability in an ultrapure single crystal. In …
Thermal expansion data are used to study the uniaxial pressure dependence of the electronic/magnetic entropy of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2. Uniaxial pressure is found to be proportional to doping and, thus, also an appropriate tuning parameter in this system. Many of the features predicted to occur for a pressure-tuned quantum critical system, in which superconductivity is an emergent phase hiding the critical point, are observed. The electronic/magnetic Grüneisen parameters associated with the spin-density wave and superconducting transitions further demonstrate an intimate connection between both orde…
Electrical resistivity measurements on a single crystal of the heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn_5 at pressures to 4.2 GPa reveal a strong crossover in transport properties near P^* \approx 1.6 GPa, where T_c is a maximum. The temperature-pressure phase diagram constructed from these data provides a natural connection to cuprate physics, including the possible existence of a pseudogap.
Experiments performed over the last twenty years have revealed striking similarities between several two-dimensional (2D) fermion systems, including diluted two-dimensional electron liquids in semiconductors, 3He monolayers, and layered organic charge-transfer salts. These experimental results, together with recent theoretical advances, provide compelling evidence that strong electronic correlations - Wigner-Mott physics - dominate the universal features of the corresponding metal-insulator transitions (MIT). Here we review the recent theoretical work exploring quantum criticality of Mott and …
The pressure-temperature phase diagram of the orthorhombic ferromagnetic superconductor UCoGe was determined by resistivity measurements up to $10.5~$GPa. The Curie temperature $T_C$ is suppressed with pressure and vanishes at the critical pressure $p_c\approx1~$GPa. Superconductivity is observed in both the ferromagnetic state at low pressure, and in the paramagnetic state above $p_c$ up to about 4$~$GPa. Non-Fermi liquid behavior appears in a large pressure range. The resistivity varies linearly with temperature around $p_c$ and evolves continuously with pressure to a $T^2$ Fermi-liquid beha…
We investigate the metallic transport in the organic superconductor (TMTSF)2PF6 under pressure within the framework of the spin density wave theory in the proximity of a Peierls quantum critical point (QCP). We use a simple transport model of hot and cold regions around the Fermi surface, driven by the proximity to the QCP in order to provide a template to fit the experimental results. Successful agreement with the data comforts the interpretation of extended criticality around the antiferromagnetic QCP in the normal phase of quasi one-dimensional organic superconductors.
We propose a theory of longitudinal resistivity in the normal phase of quasi-one-dimensional organic superconductors near the quantum critical point where antiferromagnetism borders with superconductivity under pressure. The linearized semi-classical Boltzmann equation is solved numerically, fed in by the half-filling electronic umklapp scattering vertex as derived from one-loop renormalization group calculations for the quasi-one-dimensional electron gas model. The momentum and temperature dependence of umklapp scattering has an important impact on the behaviour of longitudinal resistivity in…
Magnetic Quantum Criticality inside the Superconducting State Revealed by Penetration Depth Scaling with Local $T_{\mathrm c}$
Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory（斯坦福材料能源科学研究所，SLAC国家加速器实验室）；Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University（斯坦福大学先进材料格巴莱实验室）；College of Science, Ibaraki University（茨城大学理学院）；Research and Education Center for Atomic Sciences, Ibaraki University（茨城大学原子科学研究与教育中心）
Quantum phase transitions induced by an external magnetic field in the Haldane-gapped spin-1 chains are studied in a fermionic field-theoretic description of the model. In the case with broken axial symmetry, two transitions occurs consecutively as increasing the field: $h_c=(m_1 m_2)^{1/2}$ (with $m_1$ and $m_2$ the transverse masses) is the critical Ising point and $\tilde{h}_c^* (> h_c)$ is the commensurate-incommensurate transition point. Although the latter is thermodynamically indiscernible, its property is revealed in the spin correlation functions (both uniform and staggered) which are…
Quantum criticality in cubic heavy fermion compounds remains much less explored than in quasi-two-dimensional systems. However, such materials are needed to broadly test the recently suggested global phase diagram for heavy fermion quantum criticality. Thus, to boost these activities, we review the field, with focus on Ce-based systems with temperature-magnetic field or temperature-pressure phase diagrams that may host a quantum critical point. To date, CeIn3 and Ce3Pd20Si6 are the only two among these compounds where quantum critical behaviour has been systematically investigated. Interesting…
In this paper we review some of our recent experimental and theoretical results on transport and thermodynamic properties of heavy-fermion alloys Ce(1-x)Yb(x)CoIn5. Charge transport measurements under magnetic field and pressure on these single crystalline alloys revealed that: (i) relatively small Yb substitution suppresses the field induced quantum critical point, with a complete suppression for nominal Yb doping x>0.20; (ii) the superconducting transition temperature Tc and Kondo lattice coherence temperature T* decrease with x, yet they remain finite over the wide range of Yb concentration…
Polycrystalline samples of the isostructural alloys UNi1-xCoxSi2 (0 <= x <= 1) were studied by means of x-ray powder diffraction, magnetization, electrical resistivity and specific heat measurements, at temperatures down to 2 K and in magnetic fields up to 5 T. The experimental data revealed an evolution from strongly anisotropic ferromagnetism with pronounced Kondo effect, observed for the alloys with x < 0.98 and being gradually suppressed with rising Co-content, to spin-glass-like states with dominant spin fluctuations, seen for the sample with x = 0.98. Extrapolation of the value of TC(x) …
Under hydrostatic pressure, the ground state of a two-dimensional electron gas at $ν=5/2$ changes from a fractional quantum Hall state to the stripe phase. By measuring the energy gap of the fractional quantum Hall state and of the onset temperature of the stripe phase we mapped out a phase diagram of these competing phases in the pressure-temperature plane. Our data highlight the dichotomy of two descriptions of the half-filled Landau level near the quantum critical point: one based on electrons and another on composite fermions.
We report the first high pressure measurement of the Fe K-edge in hematite (Fe$_2$O$_3$) by X-ray absorption spectroscopy in partial fluorescence yield geometry. The pressure-induced evolution of the electronic structure as Fe$_2$O$_3$ transforms from a high-spin insulator to a low-spin metal is reflected in the x-ray absorption pre-edge. The crystal field splitting energy was found to increase monotonically with pressure up to 48 GPa, above which a series of phase transitions occur. Atomic multiplet, cluster diagonalization, and density-functional calculations were performed to simulate the p…
We present neutron scattering measurements on powder samples of the spinel FeSc2S4 that reveal a previously unobserved magnetic ordering transition occurring at 11.8(2)~K. Magnetic ordering occurs subsequent to a subtle cubic-to-tetragonal structural transition which distorts Fe coordinating sulfur tetrahedra lifting the orbital degeneracy. The application of 1~GPa hydrostatic pressure appears to destabilize this Néel state, reducing the transition temperature to 8.6(8)~K and redistributing magnetic spectral weight to higher energies. The relative magnitudes of ordered $\langle m \rangle^2\!=\…
We study the effect of hole-doping and chemical pressure (isovalent doping) in single crystals of K$_x$Eu$_{1-x}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ and EuFe$_2$(As$_{1-y}$P$_y$)$_2$, respectively, by measurements of the thermopower, $S(T)$, and electrical resistivity, $ρ(T)$. The evolution of $S(T)$ upon doping indicates drastic changes of the electronic configuration at critical values $x_{\mathrm{cr}}=0.3$ and $y_{\mathrm{cr}}=0.21$, respectively, as the spin-density-wave transition is completely suppressed and superconductivity (SC) emerges. For the case of chemical pressure, the comparison with published ARPES …
Geometrical frustration describes situations where interactions are incompatible with the lattice geometry and stabilizes exotic phases such as spin liquids. Whether geometrical frustration of magnetic interactions in metals can induce unconventional quantum critical points is an active area of research. We focus on the hexagonal heavy fermion metal CeRhSn where the Kondo ions are located on distorted kagome planes stacked along the c axis. Low-temperature specific heat, thermal expansion and magnetic Grüneisen parameter measurements prove a zero-field quantum critical point. The linear therma…
Quantum phase transitions in quantum matter occur at zero temperature between distinct ground states by tuning a nonthermal control parameter. Often, they can be accurately described within the Landau theory of phase transitions, similarly to conventional thermal phase transitions. However, this picture can break down under certain circumstances. Here, we present a comprehensive study of the effect of hydrostatic pressure on the magnetic structure and spin dynamics of the spin-1/2 ladder compound C$_9$H$_{18}$N$_2$CuBr$_4$. Single-crystal heat capacity and neutron diffraction measurements reve…
We report the discovery of exotic superconductivity (SC) and novel magnetism in heavy-fermion (HF) compounds, CeCu$_2$Si$_2$, CeRhIn$_5$ and CeIn$_3$ through nuclear-quadrupole-resonance (NQR) measurements under pressure ($P$). The exotic SC in a homogeneous CeCu$_2$Si$_2$ revealed antiferromagnetic critical fluctuations at the border to antiferromagnetism (AFM) or marginal AFM. The uniform mixed phase of SC and AFM in CeCu$_2$(Si$_{1-x}$Ge$_x$)$_2$ emerges on a microscopic level, once a tiny amount of 1%Ge($x=0.01$) is substituted for Si to expand its lattice. The application of minute pressu…
The interpretation of the magnetic phase diagrams of strongly correlated electron systems remains controversial. In particular, the physics of quantum phase transitions, which occur at zero temperature, is still enigmatic. Heavy-fermion compounds aretextbook examples of quantum criticality, as doping, or the application of pressure or a magnetic field can lead to a quantum phase transition between a magnetically ordered state and a paramagnetic regime. A central question concerns the microscopic nature of the critical quantum fluctuations. Are they antiferromagnetic or of local origin? Here we…
Fermi liquid theory, the standard theory of metals, has been challenged by a number of observations of anomalous metallic behavior found in the vicinity of a quantum phase transition. The breakdown of the Fermi liquid is accomplished by fine-tuning the material to a quantum critical point using a control parameter such as the magnetic field, pressure, or chemical composition. Our high precision magnetization measurements of the ultrapure f-electron based superconductor β-YbAlB4 demonstrate a scaling of its free energy indicative of zero-field quantum criticality without tuning in a metal. The …
