Abstract The detailed anisotropic dispersion of the low-temperature, low-energy magnetic excitations of the candidate spin-triplet superconductor UTe2is revealed using inelastic neutron scattering. The magnetic excitations emerge from the Brillouin zone boundary at the high symmetryYandTpoints and disperse along the crystallographic$$\hat{b}$$ -axis. In applied magnetic fields to at leastμ0H= 11 T along the$$\hat{c}-{\rm{axis}}$$ , the magnetism is found to be field-independent in the (hk0) plane. The scattering intensity is consistent with that expected from U3+/U4+ f-electron spins with preferential orientation along the crystallographic$$\hat{a}$$ -axis, and a fluctuating magnetic moment ofμeff=1.7(5)μB. We propose interband spin excitons arising fromf-electron hybridization as a possible origin of the magnetic excitations in UTe2.
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This content will become publicly available on December 1, 2026
Periodic splay Fréedericksz transitions in a ferroelectric nematic
Abstract Electric field-induced splay of molecular orientation, called the Fréedericksz transition, is a fundamental electro-optic phenomenon in nonpolar nematic liquid crystals. In a ferroelectric nematic NFwith a spontaneous electric polarization$${{\bf{P}}}$$ , the splay is suppressed since it produces bound electric charges. Here, we demonstrate that an alternating current (ac) electric field causes three patterns of NFpolarization. At low voltages,$${{\bf{P}}}$$ oscillates around the field-free orientation with no stationary deformations. As the voltage increases, the polarization acquires stationary distortions, first splay and twist in a stripe pattern and then splay and bend in a square lattice of +1 and -1 defects. In all patterns,$${{\bf{P}}}$$ oscillates around the stationary orientations. The stationary bound charge is reduced by a geometrical “splay cancellation” mechanism that does not require free ions: the charge created by splay in one plane is reduced by splay of an opposite sign in the orthogonal plane.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2341830
- PAR ID:
- 10598589
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Communications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Electrically induced reorientation Freedericksz effect Hydrodynamic flows
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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