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, Pc approximately 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 magnetotransport 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 CrV 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.