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Study of drastic changes in spin fluctuations of UTe<sub>2</sub> under pressure using <sup>125</sup>Te NMR

ORAL

Abstract

The heavy-fermion superconductor UTe2, characterized by a superconducting (SC) transition temperature (Tc) ranging from approximately 1.6 to 2.0 K, is being investigated for its distinct SC and magnetic properties. Under pressure, UTe2 (with Tc ~ 1.6 K) exhibits two superconducting phases: SC1, which has a lower Tc and is suppressed with increasing pressure, and SC2, with Tc, which peaks at about 3 K around 1.2 GPa before rapidly declining and vanishing at approximately 1.5 GPa. A magnetically ordered state emerges beyond this critical pressure (pc ~ 1.5 GPa). Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements at ambient pressure and under pressure suggest the coexistence of ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) spin fluctuations in UTe2. To investigate the evolution of spin fluctuations in UTe2 under pressure, we employed 125Te NMR measurements on 125Te enriched UTe2 single crystal with Tc ~ 1.6 K. We report on the temperature (1.5 -150 K) and pressure (0 - 1.9 GPa) dependence of the Knight shift (K) and the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate (1/T1) with the magnetic field (H) oriented parallel to all three crystalline axes. Using 1/T1T measurements for fields aligned along the a, b, and c directions, we probed the spin fluctuations. We compared it with static susceptibility data represented by K to understand the nature of these fluctuations better. Our observations indicate significant changes in spin fluctuations above and below the critical pressure.

Presenters

  • Devi Vijayan Ambika

    Ames National Laboratory

Authors

  • Devi Vijayan Ambika

    Ames National Laboratory

  • Qing-Ping Ding

    Ames National Laboratory, Ames National Laboratory, U.S.DOE

  • Corey Elizabeth Frank

    National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

  • Sheng Ran

    Washington University, St. Louis

  • Nicholas P Butch

    National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

  • Yuji Furukawa

    Iowa State University, Ames National Laboratory, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames National Laboratory, Iowa State University