Successive phase transitions of the spin-orbit-coupled metal Cd2Re2O7probed by high-resolution synchrotron x-ray diffraction

Daigorou Hirai; Atsuhito Fukui; Hajime Sagayama; Takumi Hasegawa; Zenji Hiroi

doi:10.1088/1361-648X/aca05e

Successive phase transitions of the spin-orbit-coupled metal Cd₂Re₂O₇probed by high-resolution synchrotron x-ray diffraction

J Phys Condens Matter. 2022 Nov 16;51(3). doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/aca05e.

Authors

Daigorou Hirai^{1

2}, Atsuhito Fukui¹, Hajime Sagayama³, Takumi Hasegawa⁴, Zenji Hiroi¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan.
² Department of Applied Physics, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
³ Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan.
⁴ Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8521, Japan.

PMID: 36332269
DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/aca05e

Abstract

The 5dpyrochlore oxide superconductor Cd₂Re₂O₇(CRO) has attracted significant interest as a spin-orbit-coupled metal (SOCM) that spontaneously undergoes a phase transition to an odd-parity multipole phase by breaking the spatial inversion symmetry due to the Fermi liquid instability caused by strong spin-orbit coupling. Despite the significance of structural information during the transition, previous experimental results regarding lattice deformation have been elusive. We have conducted ultra-high resolution synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction experiments on a high-quality CRO single crystal. The temperature-dependent splitting of the 0 0 16 and 0 0 14 reflections, which are allowed and forbidden, respectively, in the high-temperature cubic phase I (space groupFd-3m), has been clearly observed and reveals the following significant facts: inversion symmetry breaking and tetragonal distortion occur simultaneously atT_s1= 201.5(1) K; the previously believed first-order transition between phase II (I-4m2) and phase III (I4₁22) atT_s2∼120 K consists of two close second-order transitions atT_s2= 115.4(1) K andT_s3∼ 100 K; there is a new orthorhombic phase XI (F222) in between. The order parameters (OPs) of these continuous transitions are uniquely represented by a two-dimensional irreducible representationE_uof theO_hpoint group, and the OPs of phase XI are a linear combination of those of phases II and III. Each phase is believed to correspond to a distinct odd-parity multipole order, and the complex successive transitions observed may be the result of an electronic phase transition that resolves the Fermi liquid instability in the SOCM.

Keywords: inversion symmetry breaking; pyrochlore oxide; spin–orbit coupling; spin–orbit-coupled metal.