Magnetically hidden state on the ground floor of the magnetic Devil's staircase
Shusaku Imajo, Naofumi Matsuyama, Toshihiro Nomura, Takumi Kihara,, Shintao Nakamura, Christophe Marcenat, Thierry Klein, Gabriel Seyfarth,, Chengchao Zhong, Hiroshi Kageyama, Koichi Kindo, Tsutomu Momoi, Yoshimitsu, Kohama

TL;DR
This study reveals a hidden magnetic state in SrCu2(BO3)2 around 26 T, characterized by thermodynamic anomalies and likely involving a spin-nematic phase, advancing understanding of complex magnetic phases in quantum materials.
Contribution
It provides experimental evidence for a thermodynamic anomaly indicating a hidden spin-nematic state in SrCu2(BO3)2 near 26 T, supported by theoretical predictions.
Findings
Detection of a thermodynamic anomaly at ~26 T.
Confirmation of magnetic crystallization above 27 T.
Proposal of a spin-nematic state as a hidden phase.
Abstract
We investigated the low-temperature and high-field thermodynamic and ultrasonic properties of SrCu2(BO3)2, which exhibits various plateaux in its magnetization curve above 27~T, called a magnetic Devil's staircase. The results of the present study confirm that magnetic crystallization, the first step of the staircase, occurs above 27~T as a 1st-order transition accompanied by a sharp singularity in heat capacity and a kink in the elastic constant. In addition, we observe a thermodynamic anomaly at lower fields around 26~T, which has not been previously detected by any magnetic probes. At low temperatures, this magnetically hidden state has a large entropy and does not exhibit Schottky-type gapped behavior, which suggests the existence of low-energy collective excitations. Based on our observations and theoretical predictions, we propose that magnetic quadrupoles form a…
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