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The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
Hidden Density-Wave Instability in the Trimer Ruthenate Ba_{4}Ru_{3}O_{10}
Gang Cao1, Hengdi Zhao1,2, Adrienne Bond1
1University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Physics, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
None:
We report an unprecedented hidden density-wave instability in the trimer-based ruthenate Ba_{4}Ru_{3}O_{10}, previously regarded as a purely antiferromagnetic insulator. This instability develops in two distinct stages: an electronically driven reconstruction at T_{A}=100 K manifested in structural, thermodynamic, and transport anomalies that remain remarkably insensitive to magnetic fields up to at least 14 T, followed only at much lower temperatures T^{*}∼20 K by the emergence of strongly nonlinear transport. Below T^{*}, charge conduction exhibits distinct depinning thresholds, sharp negative differential resistance, and unusually slow collective dynamics in the Hertz range. Direct measurements show that Joule heating is negligible, and all nonlinear signatures vanish upon only 3% Ir substitution for Ru, demonstrating the intrinsic origin. These results identify Ba_{4}Ru_{3}O_{10} as a rare correlated system hosting a strongly pinned collective electronic mode intertwined with antiferromagnetism.
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