Neutron, electron and X-ray scattering investigation of Cr1-xVx near Quantum Criticality

Abstract

The weakness of electron-electron correlations in the itinerant antiferromagnet Cr doped with V has long been considered the reason that neither new collective electronic states or even non Fermi liquid behaviour are observed when antiferromagnetism in Cr${}_{1-x}$V${}_x$ is suppressed to zero temperature. We present the results of neutron and electron diffraction measurements of several lightly doped single crystals of Cr${}_{1-x}$V${}_x$ in which the archtypal spin density wave instability is progressively suppressed as the V content increases, freeing the nesting-prone Fermi surface for a new striped charge instability that occurs at x${}_c$=0.037. This novel nesting driven instability relieves the entropy accumulation associated with the suppression of the spin density wave and avoids the formation of a quantum critical point by stabilising a new type of charge order at temperatures in excess of 400 K. Restructuring of the Fermi surface near quantum critical points is a feature found in materials as diverse as heavy fermions, high temperature copper oxide superconductors and now even elemental metals such as Cr.

6 pages, 6 figures. Accepted to Physical Review B

References in corpus (5)

• Formation of a Nematic Fluid at High Fields in Sr3Ru2O7
• Charge density wave origin of cuprate checkerboard visualized by scanning tunneling microscopy
• Pseudogap and charge density waves in two dimensions
• Chromium at High Pressures: Weak Coupling and Strong Fluctuations in an Itinerant Antiferromagnet
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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Dynamical spin susceptibility of spin-valley half-metal
• Kohn anomalies in momentum dependence of magnetic susceptibility of some three-dimensional systems