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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Dielectric RheoSANS — Simultaneous Interrogation of Impedance, Rheology and Small Angle Neutron Scattering of Complex Fluids
Published on: April 10, 2017
Evidence for a nematic component to the hidden-order parameter in URu2Si2 from differential elastoresistance
Scott C Riggs1, M C Shapiro1, Akash V Maharaj2
11] Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA [2] Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
Abstract:
For materials that harbour a continuous phase transition, the susceptibility of the material to various fields can be used to understand the nature of the fluctuating order and hence the nature of the ordered state. Here we use anisotropic biaxial strain to probe the nematic susceptibility of URu2Si2, a heavy fermion material for which the nature of the low temperature 'hidden order' state has defied comprehensive understanding for over 30 years. Our measurements reveal that the fluctuating order has a nematic component, confirming reports of twofold anisotropy in the broken symmetry state and strongly constraining theoretical models of the hidden-order phase.
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