7 research outputs found
Random Strain Induced Correlations in Materials with Intertwined Nematic and Magnetic Orders
Electronic nematicity is rarely observed as an isolated instability of a correlated electron system. Instead, in iron pnictides and in certain cuprates and heavy-fermion materials, nematicity is intertwined with an underlying spin-stripe or charge-stripe state. As a result, random strain, ubiquitous in any real crystal, creates both random-field disorder for the nematic degrees of freedom and random-bond disorder for the spin or charge ones. Here, we put forward an Ashkin-Teller model with random Baxter fields to capture the dual role of random strain in nematic systems for which nematicity is a composite order arising from a stripe state. Using Monte Carlo to simulate this random Baxter-field model, we find not only the expected breakup of the system into nematic domains, but also the emergence of nontrivial disorder-promoted magnetic correlations. Such correlations enhance and tie up the fluctuations associated with the two degenerate magnetic stripe states from which nematicity arises, leaving characteristic signatures in the spatial profile of the magnetic domains, in the configurational space of the spin variables, and in the magnetic noise spectrum. We discuss possible experimental manifestations of these effects in iron-pnictide superconductors. Our work establishes the random Baxter-field model as a more complete alternative to the random-field Ising model to describe complex electronic nematic phenomena in the presence of disorder
On the Nature of Memory and Rejuvenation in Glassy Systems
The memory effect in a single crystal spin glass
() has been measured using ac susceptibility techniques over a reduced temperature range of
and a model of the memory effect has been developed. A
double-waiting-time protocol is carried out where the spin glass is first
allowed to age at a temperature below , followed by a second aging at a
lower temperature after it has fully rejuvenated. The model is based on
calculating typical coincidences between the growth of correlated regions at
the two temperatures. It accounts for the absolute magnitude of the memory
effect as a function of both waiting times and temperatures. The data can be
explained by the memory loss being a function of the relative change in the
correlated volume at the first waiting temperature because of the growth in the
correlations at the second waiting temperature.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
Signatures of Z Vestigial Potts-nematic order in van der Waals antiferromagnets
Layered van der Waals magnets have attracted much recent attention as a
promising and versatile platform for exploring intrinsic two-dimensional
magnetism. Within this broader class, the transition metal phosphorous
trichalcogenides P stand out as particularly interesting, as they
provide a realization of honeycomb lattice magnetism and are known to display a
variety of magnetic ordering phenomena as well as superconductivity under
pressure. One example, found in a number of different materials, is
commensurate single- zigzag antiferromagnetic order, which spontaneously
breaks the spatial threefold rotation symmetry of the honeycomb
lattice. The breaking of multiple distinct symmetries in the magnetic phase
suggests the possibility of a sequence of distinct transitions as a function of
temperature, and a resulting intermediate -nematic phase which
exists as a paramagnetic vestige of zigzag magnetic order -- a scenario known
as vestigial ordering. Here, we report the observation of key signatures of
vestigial Potts-nematic order in rhombohedral FePSe. By performing linear
dichroism imaging measurements -- an ideal probe of rotational symmetry
breaking -- we find that the symmetry is already broken above the N\'eel
temperature. We show that these observations are explained by a general
Ginzburg-Landau model of vestigial nematic order driven by magnetic
fluctuations and coupled to residual strain. An analysis of the domain
structure as temperature is lowered and a comparison with zigzag-ordered
monoclinic FePS reveals a broader applicability of the Ginzburg-Landau
model in the presence of external strain, and firmly establishes the P
magnets as a new experimental venue for studying the interplay between
Potts-nematicity, magnetism and superconductivity.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures + supplementary materia