Quantum criticality in single crystalline YFe2Al10 determined from zero-field and longitudinal-field muon spin relaxation

ORAL

Abstract

Muon spin relaxation ($\mu$SR) measurements were performed on single crystalline YFe$_2$Al$_{10}$ down to 19 mK and in magnetic fields up to $\sim$100 Oe. Zero-field-$\mu$SR measurements showed no evidence of magnetic order down to 19 mK, consistent with previous measurements. However, we also find that the depolarization rate $\Lambda$ is temperature independent above 1 K but increases in an exponential behavior for $T <$ 1 K. Longitudinal-field $\mu$SR measurements also reveals a time-field scaling where $G(t, H)$ = $G(t/H^{\gamma}$), with $\gamma$ = 0.67. This is further confirmed from the magnetic field dependence of $\Lambda$, which finds $\Lambda(H) \propto H^{0.67}$ at 19 mK. This is further evidence that single crystalline YFe$_2$Al$_{10}$ is in close proximity to a ferromagnetic quantum critical point.

*The research performed in this study was supported by the National NSF of China under Grant no. 11474060 and STCSM of China (No. 15XD1500200). Work at CSULA funded by NSF/DMR-1105380. Research at CSU-Fresno is supported by NSF DMR-1506677.

Authors

  • Kevin Huang

    • Department of Physics and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, University of California, San Diego, USA
    • Department of Physics, Fudan University
    • University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA
  • Cheng Tan

    • Department of Physics, Fudan University
  • Jian Zhang

    • Department of Physics, Fudan University
    • Fudan University, Shanghai
  • Zhaofeng Ding

    • Department of Physics, Fudan University
  • Douglas MacLaughlin

    • Department of Physics, UC Riverside
  • Oscar Bernal

    • Department of Physics, CSU Los Angeles
    • California State University, Los Angeles
  • Pei-Chun Ho

    • Califor. State U., Fresno
    • Physics/CSU-Fresno
    • Department of Physics, CSU Fresno
  • Liusuo Wu

    • Department of Physics, Stony Brook University
  • Meigan Aronson

    • Department of Physics, Stony Brook University
  • Lei Shu

    • Fudan University, Shangahi, China
    • Department of Physics, Fudan University
    • Fudan University, Shanghai