Avoided antiferromagnetic order and quantum critical point in CeCoIn5

We measured the specific heat and resistivity of heavy fermion CeCoIn5 between the superconducting critical field H(c2)=5 T and 9 T, with the field in the [001] direction, and at temperatures down to 50 mK. At 5 T the data show a non-Fermi liquid (NFL) behavior down to the lowest temperatures. At the field above 8 T the data exhibit a crossover from the Fermi liquid to a non-Fermi liquid behavior. We analyzed the scaling properties of the specific heat and compared both the resistivity and the specific heat with the predictions of a spin-fluctuation theory. Our analysis leads us to suggest that the NFL behavior is due to incipient antiferromagnetism (AFM) in CeCoIn5 with the quantum critical point in the vicinity of H(c2). Below H(c2) the AFM phase which competes with the paramagnetic ground state is superseded by the superconducting transition.     

Nonvanishing energy scales at the quantum critical point of CeCoIn5

Heat and charge transport were used to probe the magnetic field-tuned quantum critical point in the heavy-fermion metal CeCoIn5. A comparison of electrical and thermal resistivities reveals three characteristic energy scales. A Fermi-liquid regime is observed below T(FL), with both transport coefficients diverging in parallel and T(FL) -->0 as H --> Hc, the critical field. The characteristic temperature of antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations, T(SF), is tuned to a minimum but finite value at Hc, which coincides with the end of the T-linear regime in the electrical resistivity. A third temperature scale, T(QP), signals the formation of quasiparticles, as fermions of charge e obeying the Wiedemann-Franz law. Unlike T(FL), it remains finite at Hc, so that the integrity of quasiparticles is preserved, even though the standard signature of Fermi-liquid theory fails.     

Interacting antiferromagnetic droplets in quantum critical CeCoIn5

The heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn5 can be tuned between superconducting and antiferromagnetic ground states by hole doping with Cd. Nuclear magnetic resonance data indicate that these two orders coexist microscopically with an ordered moment approximately 0.7 microB. As the ground state evolves, there is no change in the low-frequency spin dynamics in the disordered state. These results suggest that the magnetism emerges locally in the vicinity of the Cd dopants.     

Thermoelectric response near a quantum critical point: the case of CeCoIn5

We present a study of thermoelectric coefficients in CeCoIn5 down to 0.1 K and up to 16 T in order to probe the thermoelectric signatures of quantum criticality. In the vicinity of the field-induced quantum critical point, the Nernst coefficient nu exhibits a dramatic enhancement without saturation down to the lowest measured temperature. The dimensionless ratio of the Seebeck coefficient to the electronic specific heat shows a minimum at a temperature close to threshold of the quasiparticle formation. Close to Tc(H), in the vortex-liquid state, the Nernst coefficient behaves anomalously in puzzling contrast with other superconductors and standard vortex dynamics.     

Dimensional crossover of quantum critical behavior in CeCoIn5

The nature of quantum criticality in CeCoIn5 is studied by low-temperature thermal expansion alpha(T). At the field-induced quantum critical point at H = 5 T a crossover scale T* approximately 0.3 K is observed, separating alpha(T)/T proportional, variant T(-1) from a weaker T(-1/2) divergence. We ascribe this change to a crossover in the dimensionality of the critical fluctuations which may be coupled to a change from unconventional to conventional quantum criticality. Disorder, whose effect on quantum criticality is studied in CeCoIn(5-x)Sn(x) (0 < or = x < or = 0.18), shifts T* towards higher temperatures.     

Probing the quantum critical behavior of CeCoIn5 via Hall effect measurements

We present highly sensitive Hall effect measurements of the heavy fermion compound CeCoIn5 down to temperatures of 55 mK. A pronounced dip in the differential Hall coefficient | partial differential rho(xy)/ partial differential H| at low temperature and above the upper critical field of superconductivity, H(c2), is attributed to critical spin fluctuations associated with the departure from Landau Fermi liquid behavior. This identification is strongly supported by a systematic suppression of this feature at elevated pressures. The resulting crossover line in the field-temperature phase diagram favors a field induced quantum critical point at mu(0)H(qc) approximately 4.1 T below H(c2)(T=0) suggesting related, yet separate, critical fields.     

Superconductivity and quantum criticality in CeCoIn5

Electrical resistivity measurements on a single crystal of the heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn5 at pressures to 4.2 GPa reveal a strong crossover in transport properties near P(*) approximately 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.     

Two scenarios of the quantum critical point

Two different scenarios of the quantum critical point (QCP), a zero-temperature instability of the Landau state related to the divergence of the effective mass, are investigated. Flaws of the standard scenario of the QCP, where this divergence is attributed to the occurrence of some second-order phase transition, are demonstrated. Salient features of a different topological scenario of the QCP, associated with the emergence of bifurcation points in the equation ∈(p) = μ that ordinarily determines the Fermi momentum, are analyzed. The topological scenario of the QCP is applied to three-dimensional (3D) Fermi liquids with an attractive current-current interaction.     

Two scenarios of the quantum critical point

Two different scenarios of the quantum critical point (QCP), a zero-temperature instability of the Landau state related to the divergence of the effective mass, are investigated. Flaws of the standard scenario of the QCP, where this divergence is attributed to the occurrence of some second-order phase transition, are demonstrated. Salient features of a different topological scenario of the QCP, associated with the emergence of bifurcation points in the equation ∈(p) = μ that ordinarily determines the Fermi momentum, are analyzed. The topological scenario of the QCP is applied to three-dimensional (3D) Fermi liquids with an attractive current-current interaction. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Undercompensated kondo impurity with quantum critical point

The low-temperature properties of a magnetic impurity of spin S interacting with an electron gas via anisotropic spin exchange are studied via Bethe's ansatz. For S>1/2 the impurity is only partially compensated at T = 0, leaving an effective spin that is neither integer nor half integer. The entropy has an essential singularity at H = T = 0, and the susceptibility and the specific heat follow power laws of H and T with nonuniversal exponents, which are the consequence of a quantum critical point. The results for the generalization to an arbitrary number of channels are also reported.     

Topological crossovers near a quantum critical point

We study the temperature evolution of the single-particle spectrum ε-(p) and quasiparticle momentum distribution n(p) of homogeneous strongly correlated Fermi systems beyond a point where the necessary condition for stability of the Landau state is violated, and the Fermi surface becomes multi-connected by virtue of a topological crossover. Attention is focused on the different non-Fermi-liquid temperature regimes experienced by a phase exhibiting a single additional hole pocket compared with the conventional Landau state. A critical experiment is proposed to elucidate the origin of NFL behavior in dense films of liquid ³He.     

First-order superconducting phase transition in CeCoIn5

The superconducting phase transition in heavy fermion CeCoIn5 (T(c)=2.3 K in zero field) becomes first order when the magnetic field H parallel [001] is greater than 4.7 T, and the transition temperature is below T0 approximately 0.31T(c). The change from second order at lower fields is reflected in strong sharpening of both specific heat and thermal expansion anomalies associated with the phase transition, a strong magnetocaloric effect, and a steplike change in the sample volume. This effect is due to Pauli limiting in a type-II superconductor, and was predicted theoretically in the mid-1960s.     

Towards the identification of a quantum critical line in the (p, B) phase diagram of CeCoIn5 with thermal-expansion measurements

The low-temperature thermal expansion of CeCoIn(5) single crystals measured parallel and perpendicular to magnetic fields B oriented along the c axis yields the volume thermal-expansion coefficient β. Considerable deviations of β(T) from Fermi-liquid behavior occur already within the superconducting region of the (B, T) phase diagram and become maximal at the upper critical field B(c2)(0). However, β(T) and the Grüneisen parameter Γ are incompatible with a quantum critical point at B(c2)(0), but allow for a quantum criticality shielded by superconductivity and extending to negative pressures for B相似文献   

Pressure induced superconductor quantum critical point in multi-band systems

In multi-band superconductors as inter-metallic systems and heavy fermions, external pressure can reduce the critical temperature and eventually destroy superconductivity driving these systems to the normal state. In many cases this transition is continuous and is associated with a superconducting quantum critical point (SQCP). In this work we study a two-band superconductor in the presence of hybridization V. This one-body mixing term is due to the overlap of the different wave-functions. It can be tuned by external pressure and turns out as an important control parameter to study the phase diagram and the nature of the phase transitions. We use a BCS approximation and include both inter- and intra-band attractive interactions. For negligible inter-band interactions, as hybridization (pressure) increases we find a SQCP separating a superconductor from a normal state at a critical value of the hybridization V_c. We obtain the behavior of the electronic specific heat close to the SQCP and the shape of the critical line as V approaches V_c.     

Giant Nernst effect in CeCoIn5

We present a study of Nernst and Seebeck coefficients of the heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn5. Below 18 K, concomitant with a field-dependent Seebeck coefficient, a large sublinear Nernst signal emerges with a magnitude drastically exceeding what is expected for a multiband Fermi-liquid metal. In the mixed state, in contrast with all other superconductors studied before, this signal overwhelms the one associated with the motion of superconducting vortices. The results point to a hitherto unknown source of transverse thermoelectricity in strongly interacting electrons.     

Contrasting different scenarios for the quantum critical point

Competing scenarios for quantum critical points (QCPs) of strongly interacting Fermi systems signaled by a divergent density of states at zero temperature are contrasted. The conventional scenario, which enlists critical fluctuations of a collective mode and attributes the divergence to a coincident vanishing of the quasi-particle strength z, is shown to be incompatible with identities arising from conservation laws prevailing in the fermionic medium. An alternative scenario, in which the topology of the Fermi surface is altered at the QCP, is found to explain the non-Fermi-liquid thermodynamic behavior observed experimentally in Yb-based compounds close to the QCP. It is suggested that combination of the topological scenario with the theory of quantum phase transitions will provide a proper foundation for analysis of the extended QCP region.     

Optimal nonlinear passage through a quantum critical point

We analyze the problem of optimal adiabatic passage through a quantum critical point. We show that to minimize the number of defects the tuning parameter should be changed as a power law in time. The optimal power is proportional to the logarithm of the total passage time multiplied by universal critical exponents characterizing the phase transition. We support our results by the general scaling analysis and by explicit calculations for the transverse-field Ising model.