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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Angle-resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy At Ultra-low Temperatures
Published on: October 9, 2012
Quantum phase transitions in the itinerant ferromagnet ZrZn2
M Uhlarz1, C Pfleiderer, S M Hayden
1Physikalisches Institut, Universität Karlsruhe, Wolfgang-Gaede-Strasse 1, D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany.
Abstract:
We report a study of the ferromagnetism of ZrZn2, the most promising material to exhibit ferromagnetic quantum criticality, at low temperatures T as a function of pressure p. We find that the ordered ferromagnetic moment disappears discontinuously at p(c)=16.5 kbar. Thus a tricritical point separates a line of first order ferromagnetic transitions from second order (continuous) transitions at higher temperature. We also identify two lines of transitions of the magnetization isotherms up to 12 T in the p-T plane where the derivative of the magnetization changes rapidly. These quantum phase transitions (QPT) establish a high sensitivity to local minima in the free energy in ZrZn2, thus strongly suggesting that QPT in itinerant ferromagnets are always first order.
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