Orientation Dependence of the Magnetic Phase Diagram of Yb${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$

Abstract

In the quest to realize a quantum spin liquid (QSL), magnetic long-range order is hardly welcome. Yet it can offer deep insights into a complex world of strong correlations and fluctuations. Much hope was placed in the cubic pyrochlore Yb${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$ as a putative U(1) QSL but a new class of ultra-pure single crystals make it abundantly clear the stoichiometric compound is a ferromagnet. Here we present a detailed experimental and theoretical study of the corresponding field-temperature phase diagram. We find it to be richly anisotropic with a critical endpoint for $\vec{B}\parallel ⟨100⟩$, while field parallel to $⟨110⟩$ and $⟨111⟩$ enhances the critical temperature by up to a factor of two and shifts the onset of the field-polarized state to finite fields. Landau theory shows that Yb${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$ in some ways is remarkably similar to pure iron. However, it also pinpoints anomalies that cannot be accounted for at the classical mean-field level including a dramatic enhancement of $T_{\mathrm{C}}$ and reentrant phase boundary by fields with a component transverse to the easy axes, as well as the anisotropy of the upper critical field in the quantum limit.

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Multiphase Magnetism in Yb2Ti2O7
• Understanding Reentrance in Frustrated Magnets: the Case of the Er${}_2$Sn${}_2$O${}_7$ Pyrochlore
• Dynamical scaling as a signature of multiple phase competition in Yb${}_2$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$
• Thermodynamics of the dipole-octupole pyrochlore magnet Ce${}_2$Hf${}_2$O${}_7$ in applied magnetic fields
• Quantum paramagnetism in a non-Kramers rare-earth oxide: Monoclinic $\mathrm{P}{\mathrm{r}}_2\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{i}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$
• Anomalous Proximitized Transport in Metal/Quantum Magnet Heterostructure $\mathrm{B}{\mathrm{i}}_2\mathrm{I}{\mathrm{r}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7/Y{\mathrm{b}}_2\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{i}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_7$