Tricritical-point phase diagram in PrCu9Sn4

Fanying Meng; Min Ge; Wensen Wei; Azizur Rahman; Wei Liu; Aina Wang; Jun Zhao; Jiyu Fan; Chunlan Ma; Li Pi; Lei Zhang; Yuheng Zhang

doi:10.1088/1361-648X/ac4f7c

Tricritical-point phase diagram in PrCu₉Sn₄

J Phys Condens Matter. 2022 Feb 10;34(15). doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/ac4f7c.

Authors

Fanying Meng^{1

2

3}, Min Ge², Wensen Wei^{1

3}, Azizur Rahman^{1

2}, Wei Liu⁴, Aina Wang^{1

2

3}, Jun Zhao^{1

2

3}, Jiyu Fan⁵, Chunlan Ma⁶, Li Pi^{1

2

3}, Lei Zhang^{1

3}, Yuheng Zhang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Anhui Key Laboratory of Condensed Matter Physics at Extreme Conditions, High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, People's Republic of China.
² Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China.
³ The High Magnetic Field Laboratory of Anhui Province, Hefei 230031, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei, 230601, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Department of Applied Physics, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, People's Republic of China.
⁶ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Heat Fluid Flow Technology and Energy Application, School of Physical Science and Technology, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 35086086
DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/ac4f7c

Abstract

Tricritical phenomenon appearing in multiple phases is a fundamental and attractive issue in condensed-matter physics. In this work, a field-modulated tricritical phenomenon is realized in single-crystal PrCu₉Sn₄. The magnetization under variable directions of field indicates strong magnetic anisotropy in PrCu₉Sn₄, which reveals ferromagnetic coupling forH//c. A paramagnetic-to-ferromagnetic magnetic transition occurs withH//catT_C= 11.7 K, which is evidenced to be of a first-ordered type. The systematical study of the critical behavior gives thatβ= 0.195(8),γ= 0.911(1), andδ= 0.0592(1) forH//cconsistent with a tricritical mean-field model, which suggests a field-modulated tricritical phenomenon. A detailedH-Tphase diagram around the tricritical point (TCP) is constructed for single-crystal PrCu₉Sn₄forH//c, where ferromagnetic state, forced ferromagnetic phase and paramagnetic state meet at the TCP (H_tr= 799 kOe,T_tr= 11.3 K). The single-crystal PrCu₉Sn₄supplies a platform to deep investigate the field-modulated magnetic couplings and tricritical phenomenon.

Keywords: critical exponent; field-induced phase transition; magnetic structure; phase diagram; tricritical phenomenon.