Field-induced magnetic instability within a superconducting condensate.

Mazzone, Daniel Gabriel; Raymond, Stéphane; Gavilano, Jorge Luis; Ressouche, Eric; Niedermayer, Christof; Birk, Jonas Okkels; Ouladdiaf, Bachir; Bastien, Gaël et al. · Sci Adv · 2017

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

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 Nd<sub>0.05</sub>Ce<sub>0.95</sub>CoIn<sub>5</sub>, 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 μ<sub>0</sub><i>H</i>* = 8 T. For <i>H</i> > <i>H</i>*, a spin-density phase emerges and shares many properties with the Q phase in CeCoIn<sub>5</sub>. 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 <i>H</i>*.

Medical subject headings