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Title: Electronic in-plane symmetry breaking at field-tuned quantum criticality in CeRhIn5

Journal Article · · Nature (London)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23315· OSTI ID:1479974

Electronic nematics are exotic states of matter where electronic interactions break a rotational symmetry of the underlying lattice, in analogy to the directional alignment without translational order in nematic liquid crystals. Intriguingly such phases appear in the copper- and iron-based superconductors, and their role in establishing high-temperature superconductivity remains an open question. Nematicity may take an active part, cooperating or competing with superconductivity, or may appear accidentally in such systems. Here we present experimental evidence for a phase of nematic character in the heavy fermion superconductor CeRhIn5. We observe a field-induced breaking of the electronic tetragonal symmetry of in the vicinity of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) quantum phase transition at Hc~50T. This phase appears in out-of-plane fields of H*~28T and is characterized by substantial in-plane resistivity anisotropy. The anisotropy can be aligned by a small in-plane field component, with no apparent connection to the underlying crystal structure. Furthermore no anomalies are observed in the magnetic torque, suggesting the absence of metamagnetic transitions in this field range. These observations are indicative of an electronic nematic character of the high field state in CeRhIn5. The appearance of nematic behavior in a phenotypical heavy fermion superconductor highlights the interrelation of nematicity and unconventional superconductivity, suggesting nematicity to be a commonality in such materials.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC). Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1479974
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-17-21844
Journal Information:
Nature (London), Vol. 548, Issue 7667; ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 72 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (25)

Strain and Electronic Nematicity in La2-xSrxCuO4 journal November 2019
Multiple intertwined pairing states and temperature-sensitive gap anisotropy for superconductivity at a nematic quantum-critical point journal November 2019
Tunable emergent heterostructures in a prototypical correlated metal journal March 2018
Metamagnetic texture in a polar antiferromagnet journal April 2019
Electrical resistivity across a nematic quantum critical point journal February 2019
Measurement of elastoresistivity at finite frequency by amplitude demodulation journal October 2018
Out-of-plane transport in ZrSiS and ZrSiSe microstructures journal October 2019
Resistivity near a nematic quantum critical point: Impact of acoustic phonons journal September 2019
Transient electronic anisotropy in overdoped NaF e 1 x C o x As superconductors journal January 2018
Enhancement of the effective mass at high magnetic fields in CeRhIn 5 journal January 2019
High-field phase diagram of the heavy-fermion metal CeIn 3 : Pulsed-field NMR study on single crystals up to 56 T journal February 2019
Instability of the f -electron state in URu 2 Si 2 − x P x probed using high magnetic fields journal June 2019
Band Dependent Interlayer f -Electron Hybridization in CeRhIn 5 journal February 2018
Enhanced Hybridization Sets the Stage for Electronic Nematicity in CeRhIn 5 journal January 2019
Quasiparticle Evidence for the Nematic State above T c in Sr x Bi 2 Se 3 journal July 2019
Momentum Dependence of the Nematic Order Parameter in Iron-Based Superconductors journal August 2019
Strain-Induced Spin-Nematic State and Nematic Susceptibility Arising from 2 × 2 Fe Clusters in KFe 0.8 Ag 1.2 Te 2 journal December 2019
Magnetic small-angle neutron scattering journal March 2019
Spatial control of heavy-fermion superconductivity in CeIrIn 5 journal October 2019
Fiber Bragg Grating Dilatometry in Extreme Magnetic Field and Cryogenic Conditions journal November 2017
Tunable Emergent Heterostructures in a Prototypical Correlated Metal text January 2017
Measurement of Elastoresistivity at Finite Frequency by Amplitude Demodulation text January 2018
Metamagnetic texture in a polar antiferromagnet text January 2018
Resistivity near a nematic quantum critical point: Impact of acoustic phonons text January 2019
Non-Fermi liquid transport in the vicinity of nematic quantum critical point of FeSe$_{1-x}$S$_x$ superconductor text January 2020

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