Extended phase diagram of RNiC2 family: Linear scaling of the Peierls temperature

Abstract

Physical properties for the late lanthanide based RNiC2 (R = Dy, Ho, Er and Tm) ternary compounds are reported. All the compounds show antiferromagnetic ground state with the Néel temperature ranging from 3.4 K for HoNiC2 to 8.5 K for ErNiC2. The results of the transport and galvanomagnetic properties confirm a charge density wave state at and above room temperature with transition temperatures TCDW = 284 K, 335 K, 366 K, 394 K for DyNiC2, HoNiC2, ErNiC2 and TmNiC2, respectively. The Peierls temperature TCDW scales linearly with the unit cell volume. A similar linear dependence has been observed for the temperature of the lock-in transition T1 as well. Beyond the intersection point of the trend lines, the lock-in transition is no longer observed. In this article we demonstrate an extended phase diagram for RNiC2 family.

Single-crystal study of the charge density wave metal LuNiC2

“…5 reveal a simple metallic behavior of LuCoC 2 with a reasonably low residual resistivity, ρ 0 7 µΩcm, whereas for LuNiC 2 the residual resistivity, ρ 0 ∼ 50 µΩcm, is largely enhanced and two distinct anomalies are observed at 7 K and near 450 K. The latter resembles the resistive CDW anomalies of other RNiC 2 compounds (with R = Pr -Tb), initially reported by Murase et al [10], and is well in line with the trend of CDW transition temperatures, T CDW , discussed in Ref. [12] where T CDW = 463 K is suggested from preliminary results of LuNiC 2 which are in close agreement with the present data. The resistive drop observed at 7 K does not relate to any traceable, correspondent anomaly in the heat capacity, but does relate to a spurious diamagnetic signal of the magnetic susceptibility (see above) and is, thus, attributed to a small superconducting impurity fraction which is well below the percolation limit.…”

“…Some distinct differences between the observations from single crystal resistivity studies of LuNiC 2 in section IV B and correspondent results obtained for several magnetic RNiC 2 compounds investigated by Shimomura et al [11] may relate to changes of the CDW modulations within the series of RNiC 2 compounds (compare Ref. [12]).…”

“…The Peierls temperature, i.e. onset of CDW order, increases inversely proportional to the unit cell volume of RNiC 2 compounds [12] and is, thus, largest for LuNiC 2 , which has not yet been studied in closer detail.…”

“…. , TmNiC 2 [10][11][12] and, finally, iv) on the complex interplay of magnetic and incommensurate as well as commensurate CDW order parameters [13][14][15][16][17] (see Ref. [18] for a review).…”

Unusual charge density wave transition and absence of magnetic ordering in Er2Ir3Si5

“…The study of competing phase transitions is one of the frontier areas of condensed matter physics [1]. A large number of investigations have been made to understand the competition between and coexistence of local-moment magnetism, superconductivity, giant magnetoresistance, and charge density wave (CDW) ordering in both inorganic and organic compounds.…”