Pressure-Induced Rotational Symmetry Breaking in URu${}_2$Si${}_2$

Abstract

Phase transitions and symmetry are intimately linked. Melting of ice, for example, restores translation invariance. The mysterious hidden order (HO) phase of URu${}_2$Si${}_2$ has, despite relentless research efforts, kept its symmetry breaking element intangible. Here we present a high-resolution x-ray diffraction study of the URu${}_2$Si${}_2$ crystal structure as a function of hydrostatic pressure. Below a critical pressure threshold $p_c\approx 3$ kbar, no tetragonal lattice symmetry breaking is observed even below the HO transition $T_{HO}=17.5$ K. For $p>p_c$, however, a pressure-induced rotational symmetry breaking is identified with an onset temperatures $T_{OR}\sim 100$ K. The emergence of an orthorhombic phase is found and discussed in terms of an electronic nematic order that appears unrelated to the HO, but with possible relevance for the pressure-induced antiferromagnetic (AF) phase. Existing theories describe the HO and AF phases through an adiabatic continuity of a complex order parameter. Since none of these theories predicts a pressure-induced nematic order, our finding adds an additional symmetry breaking element to this long-standing problem.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures and supplemental materials

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• Electronic nematicity in URu2Si2 revisited
• Local observation of linear-$T$ superfluid density and anomalous vortex dynamics in URu${}_2$Si${}_2$
• Fermi-Surface Selective Determination of the $\mathbf{g}$-Factor Anisotropy in URu${}_2$Si${}_2$
• In-plane anisotropic response to the uniaxial pressure in the hidden order state of URu${}_2$Si${}_2$
• Fe substitution in URu${}_2$Si${}_2$: singlet magnetism in an extended Doniach phase diagram
• Collinear antiferromagnetic order in URu${}_2$Si${}_{2-x}$P${}_x$ revealed by neutron diffraction
• Elastic properties of hidden order in URu${}_{\text{2}}$Si${}_{\text{2}}$ are reproduced by a staggered nematic
• Unified Theory of Hastatic order and Antiferromagnetism in URu${}_2$Si${}_2$