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Published on: July 8, 2021
Analogy Between the "Hidden Order" and the Orbital Antiferromagnetism in URu_{2-x}Fe_{x}Si_{2}
H-H Kung1, S Ran2,3, N Kanchanavatee2,3
1Department of Physics & Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
Abstract:
We study URu_{2-x}Fe_{x}Si_{2}, in which two types of staggered phases compete at low temperature as the iron concentration x is varied: the nonmagnetic "hidden order" (HO) phase below the critical concentration x_{c}, and unconventional antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase above x_{c}. By using polarization resolved Raman spectroscopy, we detect a collective mode of pseudovectorlike A_{2g} symmetry whose energy continuously evolves with increasing x; it monotonically decreases in the HO phase until it vanishes at x=x_{c}, and then reappears with increasing energy in the AFM phase. The mode's evolution provides direct evidence for a unified order parameter for both nonmagnetic and magnetic phases arising from the orbital degrees-of-freedom of the uranium-5f electrons.
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