Transverse fields to tune an Ising-nematic quantum critical transition

Abstract

The paradigmatic example of a continuous quantum phase transition is the transverse field Ising ferromagnet. In contrast to classical critical systems, whose properties depend only on symmetry and the dimension of space, the nature of a quantum phase transition also depends on the dynamics. In the transverse field Ising model, the order parameter is not conserved and increasing the transverse field enhances quantum fluctuations until they become strong enough to restore the symmetry of the ground state. Ising pseudo-spins can represent the order parameter of any system with a two-fold degenerate broken-symmetry phase, including electronic nematic order associated with spontaneous point-group symmetry breaking. Here, we show for the representative example of orbital-nematic ordering of a non-Kramers doublet that an orthogonal strain or a perpendicular magnetic field plays the role of the transverse field, thereby providing a practical route for tuning appropriate materials to a quantum critical point. While the transverse fields are conjugate to seemingly unrelated order parameters, their non-trivial commutation relations with the nematic order parameter, which can be represented by a Berry-phase term in an effective field theory, intrinsically intertwines the different order parameters.

18 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables

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Cited by in corpus (25)

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• Symmetric and antisymmetric strain as continuous tuning parameters for electronic nematic order
• Selective measurements of intertwined multipolar orders: non-Kramers doublets on a triangular lattice
• Unifying Kitaev magnets, kagome dimer models and ruby Rydberg spin liquids
• The relationship between transport anisotropy and nematicity in FeSe
• Phenomenal magneto-elastoresistance of WTe${}_2$: strain engineering of electronic and quantum transport properties
• Resistivity near a nematic quantum critical point: Impact of acoustic phonons
• Electric-field-tunable electronic nematic order in twisted double-bilayer graphene
• Field-tuned ferroquadrupolar quantum phase transition in the insulator TmVO${}_4$
• Octupolar order and Ising quantum criticality tuned by strain and dimensionality: Application to $d$-orbital Mott insulators
• Second order Zeeman interaction and ferroquadrupolar order in TmVO${}_4$
• Intertwined spin-orbital coupled orders in the iron-based superconductors
• Anisotropic nematic fluctuations above the ferroquadrupolar transition in TmVO${}_4$
• Elastocaloric signatures of symmetric and antisymmetric strain-tuning of quadrupolar and magnetic phases in DyB2C2
• Tests of nematic-mediated superconductivity applied to Ba${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$Ni${}_2$As${}_2$
• Strain-tuned quantum criticality in electronic Potts-nematic systems
• Classification of electronic nematicity in three-dimensional crystals and quasicrystals
• Giant elastocaloric effect at low temperatures in TmVO${}_4$ and implications for cryogenic cooling
• Spin-echo and quantum versus classical critical fluctuations in TmVO${}_4$
• Strain tuning and anisotropic spin correlations in iron-based systems
• Nematic phases and elastoresistivity from a multiorbital non-Fermi liquid
• Elasto-Raman scattering: arsenic optical phonon as a probe of nematicity in BaFe${}_2$As${}_2$
• Shared purity and concurrence of a mixture of ground and low-lying excited states as indicators of quantum phase transitions
• Nuclear magnetic resonance studies in a model transverse field Ising system
• $SU(N)$ spin-phonon simulations of Floquet dynamics in spin $S>1/2$ Mott insulators