Rapid Suppression of the Energy Gap and the Possibility of a Gapless Hidden Order State in URu2-xRexSi2

Published

April 1, 2019

Author(s)

S. Ran, G. M. Schmiedeshoff, N. Pouse, I. Jeon, Nicholas Butch, R. B. Adhikari, C. C. Almasan, M. B. Maple

Abstract

We investigated the energy gap associated with the hidden order (HO) phase and the Gruneisen ratio in the URu_2-xRe_xSi₂ system using a combination of thermal expansion coefficient and specific heat measurements. As the HO phase transition is suppressed to lower temperature, the ratio between the energy gap and the HO transition temperature decreases by three-fold. This rapid suppression of the energy gap potentially leads to a scenario of a "gapless" HO state, in which the energy gap of the HP phase vanishes before the HO transition temperature is suppressed to 0 K. We also investigated the Gruneisen ratio in the vicinity of the Re substituent composition where the HO is suppressed. The Gruneisen ratio shows divergent behavior at x = 0.12 and 0.15, providing evidence for the existence of a quantum critical point, which is consistent with our hypothesis of a "gapless" HO state.

Citation

Philosophical Magazine

Volume

99

Issue

14

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

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Keywords

correlated electron, heavy fermion, hidden order

Citation

Ran, S. , Schmiedeshoff, G. , Pouse, N. , Jeon, I. , Butch, N. , Adhikari, R. , Almasan, C. and Maple, M. (2019), Rapid Suppression of the Energy Gap and the Possibility of a Gapless Hidden Order State in URu_2-xRe_xSi₂, Philosophical Magazine, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=924634 (Accessed April 26, 2024)