Observation of Fermi liquid phase with broken symmetry in a single crystalline nanorod of Pr$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$

TL;DR

This study provides experimental evidence of a broken symmetry Fermi liquid state in a single crystalline nanorod of Pr$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$, revealing complex magnetic and electronic behaviors indicative of a novel 'hastatic' order.

Contribution

First observation of a broken symmetry Fermi liquid with 'hastatic' order in a Pr$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ nanorod, supported by resistivity and magnetoresistance measurements.

Findings

Fermi liquid behavior onset at low temperature with T^2 resistivity

Resistive anomaly with thermal hysteresis indicating itinerant metamagnetism

High field negative magnetoresistance suggesting suppression of spin fluctuations

Abstract

We report experimental evidence of emergent broken symmetry Fermi liquid state in an isolated single crystalline nanorod of $\rm Pr_2 Ir_2 O_7$. We find clear signature of the onset of the Fermi liquid behavior at low temperature marked by the sign inversion of magnetoresistance from negative at high temperature, characteristic of incoherent Kondo scattering, to positive as well as a $\rm T^2$ dependence of resistivity at low temperature. A resistive anomaly is observed, which is accompanied by thermal hysteresis in the presence of magnetic field, suggesting itinerant metamagnetism. The observed high field negative magnetoresistance with quadratic field dependence at low temperature, which is most likely due to suppression of itinerant spin fluctuation, and the irreversibility of the magneto-resistive properties in the Fermi liquid regime suggest existence of an unusual state with broken spin rotation and time reversal symmetry, hallmark of `hastatic' order. The major features of such temperature dependence of resistivity and magnetoresistance can be explained in a phenomenological model incorporating two distinct hybridization channels, which is physically consistent with the possibility of the formation of the `hastatic' Fermi liquid phase.