Research report 2013 - Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
There's life in the old dog yet: discovery of a supercool magnet
Authors
Brando, Manuel; Steppke, Alexander; Küchler, Robert; Lausberg, Stefan; Lengyel, Edit; Steinke, Lucia; Borth, Robert; Lühmann, Thomas; Krellner, Cornelius; Pedrero, Luis; Pfau, Heike; Tencé, Sophie; Rosner, Helge; Nicklas, Michael; Steglich, Frank; Geibel, Christoph
Departments
Extreme Bedingungen, Materialentwicklung
Summary
A ferromagnetic transition at an extremely low temperature of only 0.15 K (−273°C) has been discovered in the compound YbNi4P2. The properties of this phase transition contradict current theoretical predictions and evidence the existence of a ferromagnetic quantum critical point (QCP). The existence of such a QCP has been a matter of discussion as long as 40 years ago, but had been dismissed in the past 15. The search for and the investigation of QCPs is not only a central subject of modern fundamental research, but is also relevant in the development of new technical applications.