Formation of a nematic fluid at high fields in Sr3Ru2O7

R. A. BORZI; S. A. GRIGERA; J. FARRELL; R. S. PERRY; S. LISTER; S. L. LEE; D. A. TENNANT; Y. MAENO; A. P. MACKENZIE

SCIENCE

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE

Año: 2007 vol. 315 p. 214 - 217

0036-8075

In principle, a complex assembly of strongly interacting electrons can self-organize into a wide variety of collective states, but relatively few such states have been identified in practice. We report that, in the close vicinity of a metamagnetic quantum critical point, high-purity strontium ruthenate Sr3Ru2O7 possesses a large magnetoresistive anisotropy, consistent with the existence of an electronic nematic fluid. We discuss a striking phenomenological similarity between our observations and those made in high-purity two-dimensional electron fluids in gallium arsenide devices