Field induced density wave in the heavy fermion compound CeRhIn5

Abstract

Metals containing Ce often show strong electron correlations due to the proximity of the 4f state to the Fermi energy, leading to strong coupling with the conduction electrons. This coupling typically induces a variety of competing ground states, including heavy-fermion metals, magnetism and unconventional superconductivity. The d-wave superconductivity in CeTMIn5 (TM=Co, Rh, Ir) has attracted significant interest due to its qualitative similarity to the cuprate high-Tc superconductors. Here, we show evidence for a field induced phase-transition to a state akin to a density-wave (DW) in the heavy fermion CeRhIn5, existing in proximity to its unconventional superconductivity. The DW state is signaled by a hysteretic anomaly in the in-plane resistivity accompanied by the appearance of non-linear electrical transport at high magnetic fields (>27T), which are the distinctive characteristics of density-wave states. The unusually large hysteresis enables us to directly investigate the Fermi surface of a supercooled electronic system and to clearly associate a Fermi surface reconstruction with the transition. Key to our observation is the fabrication of single crystal microstructures, which are found to be highly sensitive to "subtle" phase transitions involving only small portions of the Fermi surface. Such subtle order might be a common feature among correlated electron systems, and its clear observation adds a new perspective on the similarly subtle CDW state in the cuprates.

Accepted in Nature Communications

References in corpus (7)

• Direct observation of competition between superconductivity and charge density wave order in YBa2Cu3Oy
• Hidden Magnetism and Quantum Criticality in the Heavy Fermion Superconductor CeRhIn5
• de Haas-van Alphen oscillations in the underdoped cuprate YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{6.5}$
• High magnetic field scales and critical currents in SmFeAs(O,F) crystals: promising for applications
• Normal-state nodal electronic structure in underdoped high-Tc copper oxides
• Fermi surface reconstruction and multiple quantum phase transitions in the antiferromagnet CeRhIn${}_5$
• Fermi Surface Reconstruction in CeRh${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$In${}_5$

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• Specific heat of CeRhIn${}_5$ in high magnetic fields: Magnetic phase diagram revisited
• Two-dimensional heavy fermion in a monoatomic-layer Kondo lattice YbCu${}_2$
• Origin of the 30 T transition in CeRhIn${}_5$ in tilted magnetic fields
• Towards diluted magnetism in TaAs
• Robust Fermi-Surface Morphology of CeRhIn${}_5$ across the Putative Field-Induced Quantum Critical Point
• Nanosculpted 3D helices of a magnetic Weyl semimetal with switchable nonreciprocity
• Inverse melting and intertwined orders in PrCuSb${}_2$
• Controlling superconductivity of CeIrIn${}_5$ microstructures by substrate selection
• Exotic magnetic phase diagram and extremely robust antiferromagnetism in Ce${}_2$RhIn${}_8$