Deconfined quantum critical point lost in pressurized SrCu2(BO3)2
The deconfinement quantum critical point (DQCP), a paradigm beyond the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson framework to classify states of matters, has been attracting extensive attention over the past two decades. Experimentally, SrCu2(BO3)2 plays key roles in verifying the DQCP between an antiferromagnetic (AF) Néel phase and a plaquette-singlet (PS) phase. However, the verification of the DQCP of the PS-AF transition lies in 2.4 - 3.1 GPa, which is unreachable previously due to technical limitations. Here, through the advanced high-pressure heat capacity measurements, we demonstrate that the PS-AF phase transition of SrCu2(BO3)2 at zero field is clearly first-order. Our result clarifies the two-decade-long debates about this key issue and resonates nicely with recent theoretical consensus that the previously predicted DQCPs in representative models are actually first-order transitions. Besides, the PS and AF phases transit at the same pressure-temperature point, a bi-critical point found in frustrated magnets. The deconfined quantum critical point describing a continuous phase transition from a plaquette-singlet to an antiferromagnetic Néel phase in SrCu2(BO3)2 has remained elusive. Here, the authors conduct high-pressure heat capacity measurements on the material providing experimental evidence indicating a first-order quantum phase transition between the two different symmetry-breaking phases.
Authors
- Jing Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2164-5065)
- Liling Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6653-7826)
- Yazhou Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0446-2291)
- Jinyu Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7897-9971)
- Zi Yang Meng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9771-7494)
- Jinyu Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5871-6234)
- Qi Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6249-4091)
- Cheng Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6744-7646)
- Shiliang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7922-3730)
- Wenshan Hong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7496-4978)
- Pengyu Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5276-063X)
- Bin-Bin Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8896-6173)
- Shu Cai
- Xintian Chen
Institutions
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK)
- Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory (CN)
- Center for High Pressure Science & Technology Advanced Research (CN)
- Institute of Physics (CN)
- National Laboratory for Superconductivity (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Physics
- Published
- 2025-02-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-025-01976-8
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Condensed Matter Physics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.52
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- K. C. Wong Education Foundation
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Youth Innovation Promotion Association