Signatures of quantum criticality in pure Cr at high pressure

Abstract

The elemental antiferromagnet Cr at high pressure presents a new type of naked quantum critical point that is free of disorder and symmetry-breaking fields. Here we measure magnetotransport in fine detail around the critical pressure, P_c ~ 10 GPa, in a diamond anvil cell and reveal the role of quantum critical fluctuations at the phase transition. As the magnetism disappears and T → 0, the magntotransport scaling converges to a non-mean-field form that illustrates the reconstruction of the magnetic Fermi surface, and is distinct from the critical scaling measured in chemically disordered Cr:V under pressure. The breakdown of itinerant antiferromagnetism only comes clearly into view in the clean limit, establishing disorder as a relevant variable at a quantum phase transition.

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