An Electronic Nematic Liquid in BaNi${}_2$As${}_2$

Abstract

Understanding the organizing principles of interacting electrons and the emergence of novel electronic phases is a central endeavor of condensed matter physics. Electronic nematicity, in which the discrete rotational symmetry in the electron fluid is broken while the translational one remains unaffected, is a prominent example of such a phase. It has proven ubiquitous in correlated electron systems, and is of prime importance to understand Fe-based superconductors. Here, we find that fluctuations of such broken symmetry are exceptionally strong over an extended temperature range above phase transitions in \bnap, the nickel homologue to the Fe-based systems. This provides evidence for a type of electronic nematicity, dynamical in nature, which exhibits an unprecedented coupling to the underlying crystal lattice. Fluctuations between degenerate nematic configurations cause a splitting of phonon lines, without lifting degeneracies nor breaking symmetries, akin to spin liquids in magnetic systems.

Originally submitted version (references have been updated). The version to be published has been significantly revised and is available upon request to MLT

References in corpus (9)

• Inelastic Light Scattering From Correlated Electrons
• Determination of the phase diagram of the electron doped superconductor Ba(Fe${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$)${}_2$As${}_2$
• Two Energy Scales and two Quasiparticle Dynamics in the Superconducting State of Underdoped Cuprates
• Enhancement of superconductivity near a nematic quantum critical point
• Density functional study of BaNi${}_2$As${}_2$: Electronic structure, phonons and electron-phonon superconductivity
• Giant Phonon Softening and Enhancement of Superconductivity by Phosphorus Doping of BaNi2As2
• Strange semimetal dynamics in SrIrO${}_3$
• Short-range nematic fluctuations in Sr1-xNaxFe2As2 superconductors
• Charge-density-wave transitions, phase diagram, soft phonon and possible electronic nematicity: a thermodynamic investigation of BaNi2(As,P)2

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Potential Lifshitz transition at optimal substitution in nematic pnictide Ba${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$Ni${}_2$As${}_2$