Field-induced magnetic instability within a superconducting condensate

Sci Adv. 2017 May 19;3(5):e1602055. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1602055. eCollection 2017 May.

Abstract

The application of magnetic fields, chemical substitution, or hydrostatic pressure to strongly correlated electron materials can stabilize electronic phases with different organizational principles. We present evidence for a field-induced quantum phase transition, in superconducting Nd0.05Ce0.95CoIn5, that separates two antiferromagnetic phases with identical magnetic symmetry. At zero field, we find a spin-density wave that is suppressed at the critical field μ0H* = 8 T. For H > H*, a spin-density phase emerges and shares many properties with the Q phase in CeCoIn5. These results suggest that the magnetic instability is not magnetically driven, and we propose that it is driven by a modification of superconducting condensate at H*.

Keywords: Condensed Matter Physics; diffraction; low temperature physics; magnetism; neutron scattering; quantum phase transitions; scaling; strongly correlated electron systems; superconductivity.

MeSH terms

  • Magnetic Fields*
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Superconductivity*