Tuning the structural and antiferromagnetic phase transitions in UCr$_{2}$Si$_2$: hydrostatic pressure and chemical substitution

TL;DR

This study investigates how hydrostatic pressure and chemical substitution affect structural and magnetic phase transitions in UCr$_2$Si$_2$, revealing distinct phase diagram evolutions and insights into strongly correlated quantum materials.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed comparison of pressure and chemical substitution effects on phase transitions in UCr$_2$Si$_2$, highlighting their different impacts on structural and magnetic properties.

Findings

Hydrostatic pressure increases structural transition temperature and destroys antiferromagnetism.

Chemical substitution suppresses both structural and magnetic transition temperatures.

Distinct phase diagrams are linked to changes in lattice structure and substructures.

Abstract

Structural phase transitions in $f$-electron materials have attracted sustained attention both for practical and basic science reasons, including that they offer an environment to directly investigate relationships between structure and the $f$-state. Here we present results for UCr$_2$Si$_2$, where structural (tetragonal $\rightarrow$ monoclinic) and antiferromagnetic phase transitions are seen at $T_{\rm{S}}$ $=$ 205 K and $T_{\rm{N}}$ $=$ 25 K, respectively. We also provide evidence for an additional second order phase transition at $T_{\rm{X}}$ = 280 K. We show that $T_{\rm{X}}$, $T_{\rm{S}}$, and $T_{\rm{N}}$ respond in distinct ways to the application of hydrostatic pressure and Cr $\rightarrow$ Ru chemical substitution. In particular, hydrostatic compression increases the structural ordering temperature, eventually causes it to merge with $T_{\rm{X}}$ and destroys the antiferromagnetism. In contrast, chemical substitution in the series UCr$_{2-x}$Ru$_x$Si$_2$ suppresses both $T_{\rm{S}}$ and $T_{\rm{N}}$, causing them to approach zero temperature near $x$ $\approx$ 0.16 and 0.08, respectively. The distinct $T-P$ and $T-x$ phase diagrams are related to the evolution of the rigid Cr-Si and Si-Si substructures, where applied pressure semi-uniformly compresses the unit cell and Cr $\rightarrow$ Ru substitution results in uniaxial lattice compression along the tetragonal $c$-axis and an expansion in the $ab$-plane. These results provide insights into an interesting class of strongly correlated quantum materials where degrees of freedom associated with $f$-electron magnetism, strong electronic correlations, and structural instabilities are readily controlled.