We have used specific heat and neutron diffraction measurements on single crystals of URu$_{2-x}$Fe$_x$Si$_2$ for Fe concentrations $x$ $leq$ 0.7 to establish that chemical substitution of Ru with Fe acts as chemical pressure $P_{ch}$ as previously p
roposed by Kanchanavatee et al. [Phys. Rev. B {bf 84}, 245122 (2011)] based on bulk measurements on polycrystalline samples. Notably, neutron diffraction reveals a sharp increase of the uranium magnetic moment at $x=0.1$, reminiscent of the behavior at the hidden order (HO) to large moment antiferromagnetic (LMAFM) phase transition observed at a pressure $P_xapprox$ 0.5-0.7~GPa in URu$_2$Si$_2$. Using the unit cell volume determined from our measurements and an isothermal compressibility $kappa_{T} = 5.2 times 10^{-3}$ GPa$^{-1}$ for URu$_2$Si$_2$, we determine the chemical pressure $P_{ch}$ in URu$_{2-x}$Fe$_x$Si$_2$ as a function of $x$. The resulting temperature $T$-chemical pressure $P_{ch}$ phase diagram for URu$_{2-x}$Fe$_x$Si$_2$ is in agreement with the established temperature $T$-external pressure $P$ phase diagram of URu$_2$Si$_2$.
We have used high-resolution neutron spectroscopy experiments to determine the complete spin wave spectrum of the heavy fermion antiferromagnet CeRhIn$_5$. The spin wave dispersion can be quantitatively reproduced with a simple $J_1$-$J_2$ model that
also naturally explains the magnetic spin-spiral ground state of CeRhIn$_5$ and yields a dominant in-plane nearest-neighbor magnetic exchange constant $J_0$ = 0.74 meV. Our results pave the way to a quantitative understanding of the rich low-temperature phase diagram of the prominent Ce$T$In$_5$ ($T$ = Co, Rh, Ir) class of heavy fermion materials.
We have carried out a careful magnetic neutron scattering study of the heavy fermion compound URuSi to probe the possible existence of a small magnetic moment parallel to tetragonal basal plane in the hidden-order phase. This small in-plane component
of the magnetic moment on the uranium sites $S_parallel$ has been postulated by two recent models (rank-5 superspin/hastatic order) aiming to explain the hidden-order phase, in addition to the well-known out-of-plane component $S_perp ~ approx~0.01-0.04 $mu_B$/U. In order to separate $S_parallel$ and $S_perp$ we take advantage of the condition that for magnetic neutron scattering only the components of the magnetic structure that are perpendicular to the scattering vector $Q$ contribute to the magnetic scattering. We find no evidence for an in-plane magnetic moment $S_parallel$. Based on the statistics of our measurement, we establish that the upper experimental limit for the size of any possible in-plane component is $S^{rm{max}}_parallel ~ leq~1cdot 10^{-3} ~mu_B$/U.
Two centuries of research on phase transitions have repeatedly highlighted the importance of critical fluctuations that abound in the vicinity of a critical point. They are at the origin of scaling laws obeyed by thermodynamic observables close to se
cond-order phase transitions resulting in the concept of universality classes, that is of paramount importance for the study of organizational principles of matter. Strikingly, in case such soft fluctuations are too abundant they may alter the nature of the phase transition profoundly; the system might evade the critical state altogether by undergoing a discontinuous first-order transition into the ordered phase. Fluctuation-induced first-order transitions have been discussed broadly and are germane for superconductors, liquid crystals, or phase transitions in the early universe, but clear experimental confirmations remain scarce. Our results from neutron scattering and thermodynamics on the model Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) helimagnet (HM) MnSi show that such a fluctuation-induced first-order transition is realized between its paramagnetic and HM state with remarkable agreement between experiment and a theory put forward by Brazovskii. While our study clarifies the nature of the HM phase transition in MnSi that has puzzled scientists for several decades, more importantly, our conclusions entirely based on symmetry arguments are also relevant for other DM-HMs with only weak cubic magnetic anisotropies. This is in particular noteworthy in light of a wide range of recent discoveries that show that DM helimagnetism is at the heart of problems such as topological magnetic order, multiferroics, and spintronics.
MnSi is a cubic compound with small magnetic anisotropy, which stabilizes a helimagnetic spin spiral that reduces to a ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic state in the long- and short-wavelength limit, respectively. We report a comprehensive inelasti
c neutron scattering study of the collective magnetic excitations in the helimagnetic state of MnSi. In our study we observe a rich variety of seemingly anomalous excitation spectra, as measured in well over twenty different locations in reciprocal space. Using a model based on only three parameters, namely the measured pitch of the helix, the measured ferromagnetic spin wave stiffness and the amplitude of the signal, as the only free variable, we can simultaneously account for textit{all} of the measured spectra in excellent quantitative agreement with experiment. Our study identifies the formation of intense, strongly coupled bands of helimagnons as a universal characteristic of systems with weak chiral interactions.
