NMR Studies of Nematicity in TmVO4 and TmAsO4

ORAL

Abstract

The crystal field ground state of Tm ions in certain crystal symmetries is a non-Kramers doublet, with a vanishing g-factor. In such cases strain can couple to the quadrupolar moment of the Tm ions, and a cooperative Jahn-Teller effect leads to Ising orbital-nematic order of the Tm moments. Application of a magnetic field along the c-axis suppresses the nematic order continuously and gives rise to a nematic quantum critical point. We have studied the critical nematic fluctuations via 51V and 75As NMR in TmVO4 and TmAsO4. These nuclei have quadrupolar moments that couple to the nematic degrees of freedom of the Tm. Fluctuations of both the Tm magnetic moments and the quadrupolar moments contribute to the spin-lattice relaxation of the nuclei, and we demonstrate how both the dynamical magnetic and dynamical nematic susceptibilities can be extracted from the spin-lattice relaxation rate.

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Presenters

  • Nicholas Curro

    University of California, Davis

Authors

  • Ziwen Mei

    University of California, Davis

  • Zhipan Wang

    University of California, Davis

  • Paulo Menegasso

    Physics, Campinas State University, Instituto de Física “Gleb Wataghin”, UNICAMP

  • Pierre Massat

    Physics, Stanford University, Stanford University

  • Ian R Fisher

    Physics, Stanford University, Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford University, Pulsed Field Faclity, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

  • Nicholas Curro

    University of California, Davis