Avoided ferromagnetic quantum critical point in CeZn

TL;DR

This study investigates how pressure influences the magnetic phases of CeZn, revealing that an avoided ferromagnetic quantum critical point occurs due to the emergence of an antiferromagnetic-like state.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence that the ferromagnetic quantum critical point in CeZn is avoided by a transition to an antiferromagnetic-like state under pressure.

Findings

The ferromagnetic transition temperature decreases with pressure.

A pronounced Kondo effect accompanies the transition.

An AFM-like state appears before the FM phase terminates.

Abstract

Cubic CeZn shows a structural phase transition under pressure, and it modifies the ground state from an antiferromagnetic (AFM) state to a ferromagnetic (FM) state. To investigate how the FM state terminates at a quantum phase transition, we measured the electrical resistivity under pressure for a single crystal CeZn. The transition temperature into the FM state decreases monotonously with increasing pressure, accompanied by the pronounced Kondo effect, but a drastic change in the field response occurs before the ordered phase terminates. This result suggests that the FM quantum critical point is avoided by the appearance of an AFM-like state.