• Open Access

Nematic State in CeAuSb2

S. Seo, Xiaoyu Wang, S. M. Thomas, M. C. Rahn, D. Carmo, F. Ronning, E. D. Bauer, R. D. dos Reis, M. Janoschek, J. D. Thompson, R. M. Fernandes, and P. F. S. Rosa
Phys. Rev. X 10, 011035 – Published 13 February 2020
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Abstract

At ambient pressure and zero field, tetragonal CeAuSb2 hosts stripe antiferromagnetic order at TN=6.3K. Here, we first show via bulk thermodynamic probes and x-ray diffraction measurements that this magnetic order is connected with a structural phase transition to a superstructure that likely breaks C4 symmetry, thus signaling nematic order. The temperature-field-pressure phase diagram of CeAuSb2 subsequently reveals the emergence of additional ordered states under applied pressure at a multicritical point. Our phenomenological model supports the presence of a vestigial nematic phase in CeAuSb2 akin to iron-based high-temperature superconductors; however, superconductivity, if present, remains to be discovered.

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  • Received 7 August 2019
  • Revised 5 November 2019
  • Accepted 25 December 2019
  • Corrected 28 July 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.10.011035

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Corrections

28 July 2020

Correction: Support information for the 11th author was missing from the Acknowledgments and has been inserted.

Authors & Affiliations

S. Seo1,*, Xiaoyu Wang2, S. M. Thomas1, M. C. Rahn1,†, D. Carmo3, F. Ronning1, E. D. Bauer1, R. D. dos Reis3, M. Janoschek1,4, J. D. Thompson1, R. M. Fernandes5, and P. F. S. Rosa1

  • 1Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
  • 2James Frank Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60615, USA
  • 3Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), Campinas, Sao Paulo 13083-100, Brazil
  • 4Laboratory for Scientific Developments and Novel Materials, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
  • 5School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA

  • *Corresponding author. soonbeom@lanl.gov
  • Present address: Institute for Solid State and Materials Physics, Technical University of Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany.

Popular Summary

High-temperature unconventional superconductivity in copper- and iron-based materials has been shown to be accompanied by alternating stripes of aligned magnetism intertwined with electronic nematicity, an electronic state that breaks the rotational symmetry of the underlying lattice but not its translational symmetry. The precise role that these orders have on superconductivity remains controversial because they are rare in other systems and, when present, are often hidden at low temperatures by a superconducting phase. Here, we report the discovery of a vestigial nematic phase in the heavy-fermion material CeAuSb2 with stripe magnetic order and without superconductivity.

Thermodynamic, transport, and x-ray diffraction measurements show that stripe magnetic order is connected to a structural phase transition, and our theoretical model indicates that this transition stems from vestigial nematicity. Tuning the intertwined magnetic and nematic states by applied pressure and magnetic field reveals their complex interplay. At sufficiently high pressure, these states decouple, and magnetic orders emerge.

Besides revealing previously overlooked evidence for nematicity and its coupling to stripe magnetism in CeAuSb2, these discoveries in a heavy-fermion material provide a new perspective on the generality of these intertwined orders and the potential role of nematicity in high-temperature superconductors.

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Vol. 10, Iss. 1 — January - March 2020

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