Dramatic elastic response at the critical end point in UTe${}_2$

Abstract

The first-order transition line in the \textit{H-T} phase diagram of itinerant electron metamagnets terminates at the critical end point-analogous to the critical point on the gas-liquid condensation line in the \textit{p-T} phase diagram. To unravel the impact of critical magnetic fluctuations on the crystal lattice of a metamagnet at the critical end point, we performed an ultrasonic study of the itinerant electron metamagnet UTe${}_2$ across varying temperatures and magnetic fields. At temperatures exceeding 9 K, a distinct V-shaped anomaly emerges, precisely centered at the critical field of the metamagnetic transition in the isothermal field dependence of elastic constants. This anomaly arises from lattice instability, triggered by critical magnetic fluctuations via strong magnetoelastic interactions. Remarkably, this effect is maximized precisely at the critical-end-point temperature. Comparative measurements of another itinerant metamagnet, UCoAl, reveal intriguing commonalities. Despite significant differences in the paramagnetic ground state, lattice symmetry, and the expected metamagnetic transition process between UTe${}_2$ and UCoAl, both exhibit similar anomalies in elastic properties near the critical end point. These shared aspects may hold universality for other itinerant electron metamagnets.

References in corpus (44)

• Spontaneously polarized half-gapped superconductivity
• Metamagnetism and critical fluctuations in high quality single crystals of the bilayer ruthenate Sr3Ru2O7
• First order transitions and multicritical points in weak itinerant ferromagnets
• Unconventional Superconductivity in UTe2
• Metamagnetic Quantum Criticality
• Extremely Large and Anisotropic Upper Critical Field and the Ferromagnetic Instability in UCoGe
• Coexistence of ferromagnetic fluctuations and superconductivity in the actinide superconductor UTe2
• Metamagnetic Transition in Heavy Fermion Superconductor UTe2
• Incommensurate Spin Fluctuations in the Spin-triplet Superconductor Candidate UTe${}_2$
• Ferromagnetic Quantum Critical Endpoint in UCoAl
• 125Te-NMR Study on a Single Crystal of Heavy Fermion Superconductor UTe2
• Low-dimensional antiferromagnetic fluctuations in the heavy-fermion paramagnetic ladder UTe${}_2$
• Resonance from antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations for superconductivity in UTe${}_2$
• Large Reduction in the $a$-axis Knight Shift on UTe${}_2$ with $T_{\mathrm{c}}$ = 2.1 K
• Itinerant metamagnetism of CeRu2Si2 : bringing out the dead. Comparison with the new Sr3Ru2O7 case
• Magnetic-Field-Induced Phenomena in the Paramagnetic Superconductor UTe${}_2$
• Anisotropic response of spin susceptibility in the superconducting state of UTe${}_2$ probed with ${}^{125}$Te-NMR measurement
• Comparison of two superconducting phases induced by a magnetic field in UTe2
• Transverse and Longitudinal Magnetic-Field Responses in the Ising Ferromagnets URhGe, UCoGe and UGe2
• Quasi-2D Fermi surface in the anomalous superconductor UTe2
• Single-Component Superconductivity in UTe${}_2$ at Ambient Pressure
• Absence of Spontaneous Magnetic Fields Due to Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking in Bulk Superconducting UTe2
• Evidence of Fermi-Surface Reconstruction at the Metamagnetic Transition of the Strongly Correlated Superconductor UTe2
• Enhanced triplet superconductivity in next generation ultraclean UTe2
• Slow Electronic Dynamics in the Paramagnetic State of UTe${}_2$
• Thermal conductivity in the vicinity of the quantum critical endpoint in Sr3Ru2O7
• Quantum interference between quasi-2D Fermi surface sheets in UTe2
• Superconducting-Spin Reorientation in Spin-Triplet Multiple Superconducting Phases of UTe2
• Universality and Critical Behavior at the Critical-End-Point on Itinerant-Metamagnet UCoAl
• Ubiquitous Spin Freezing in the Superconducting State of UTe2
• Strong Longitudinal Magnetic Fluctuations near Critical End Point in UCoAl: A ^59Co-NMR Study
• Anomalous Anisotropy of the Lower Critical Field and Meissner Effect in UTe2
• Effect of annealing on the magnetic and superconducting properties of single-crystalline UCoGe
• Longitudinal spin fluctuations driving field-reinforced superconductivity in UTe${}_2$
• Metamagnetic Transition in UCoAl Probed by Thermoelectricity Measurements
• Magnetovolume Effect on the First-Order Metamagnetic Transition in UTe${}_2$
• Ferromagnetic Quantum Criticality Studied by Hall Effect Measurements in UCoAl
• Quantum ferromagnet in the proximity of the tricritical point
• Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy for Irregularly-Shaped Samples and its Application to Uranium Ditelluride
• Low-temperature Magnetic Fluctuations Investigated by ${}^{125}$Te-NMR on the Uranium-based Superconductor UTe${}_2$
• Tricritical fluctuations and elastic properties of the Ising antiferromagnet UIrSi${}_3$
• Emergence of Elastic Softening Featuring Ultra-Slow Dynamics Around Magnetic Critical Endpoint in UCoAl
• High-field moment polarization in the itinerant ferromagnet URhSi
• Lattice Instability of UTe${}_2$ Studied by Ultrasonic Measurements

Cited by in corpus (2)

• A quantum critical line bounds the high field metamagnetic transition surface in UTe${}_2$
• Magnetoelastic coupling at the field-induced transition in EuAl${}_{12}$O${}_{19}$