Probing spin fluctuations of the quantum phase transition in Ce3Al by muon spin rotation

Abstract

We report on the dynamics of a magnetic-field-driven antiferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic quantum phase transition in monocrystalline Ce3Al via transverse-field muon spin rotation (TF-µSR) experiments down to low temperature of sim 80 mK. The quantum phase transition is of a spin-flip type and takes place on the Ce–Al magnetic chains as a result of competition between the indirect exchange and the Zeeman interaction of the Ce moments with the external field, applied along the chain direction (also the direction of the antiferromagnetic axis). The Ce moments are not static at T to 0, but fluctuate in their direction due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Upon applying the magnetic field sweep, the fluctuations exhibit the largest amplitude at the quantum critical point, manifested in a maximum of the muon transverse relaxation rate at the critical field. The quantum nature of fluctuations observed in the TF-µSR experiments is reflected in the temperature independence of the average local magnetic field component along the external magnetic field at the muon stopping site(s) and the muon transverse relaxation rate within the investigated temperature range 1.5 K–80 mK. Quantum fluctuations are fast on the muon Larmor frequency scale, tau_{0} < 10–10 s.