Abstract
Electronic nematicity, proposed to exist in a number of transition metal materials, can have different microscopic origins. In particular, the anisotropic resistivity and meta-magnetic jumps observed in Sr3Ru2O7 are consistent with an earlier proposal that the isotropic–nematic transition is generically first order and accompanied by meta-magnetism when tuned by a magnetic field. However, additional striking experimental features such as a non-Fermi liquid resistivity and critical thermodynamic behaviour imply the presence of an unidentified quantum critical point (QCP). Here we show that orbital degrees of freedom play an essential role in revealing a nematic QCP, even though it is overshadowed by a nearby meta-nematic transition at low temperature. We further present a finite temperature phase diagram including the entropy landscape and discuss our findings in light of the phenomena observed in Sr3Ru2O7.
Highlights
A variety of transition metal materials such as the cuprates [1], Ru-oxides [2], and Fepnictides [3] has been proposed to harbour an electronic nematic phase [4]
The theoretical proposal of nematic quantum liquid crystals became more concrete when experiments on ultra-pure bilayer ruthenate (Sr3Ru207) samples subjected to a magnetic field along the c-axis revealed an unusual phase characterized by a pronounced residual resistivity in place of a putative meta-magnetic quantum critical point (QCP) [5]
Sr3Ru2O7 was initially viewed as a prototype for the study of quantum phase transitions, exhibiting a striking non-Fermi liquid resistivity thought to originate from the putative magnetic field tuned QCP [6]
Summary
A variety of transition metal materials such as the cuprates [1], Ru-oxides [2], and Fepnictides [3] has been proposed to harbour an electronic nematic phase [4]. The unusual phase found in ultra-pure samples is delimited by two consecutive first order meta-magnetic transitions at low temperature and, remarkably, exhibits a significant in-plane magnetoresistive anisotropy when the external field is slightly tilted towards one of the in-plane crystal axes [2]. These observations strongly imply the formation of an anisotropic metallic, i.e. electronic nematic, phase in the bilayer ruthenate compound. This finding is in contrast to the current wisdom that a QCP is hidden under the nematic dome
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