Parasitic Small-Moment Antiferromagnetism and Nonlinear Coupling of Hidden Order and Antiferromagnetism in URu2Si2 Observed by Larmor Diffraction

Abstract

We report for the first time simultaneous microscopic measurements of the lattice constants, the distribution of the lattice constants, and the antiferromagnetic moment in high-purity URu2Si2, combining Larmor and conventional neutron diffraction at low temperatures and pressures up to 18 kbar. Our data demonstrate quantitatively that the small moment in the hidden order (HO) of URu2Si2 is purely parasitic. The excellent experimental conditions we achieve allow us to resolve that the transition line between HO and large-moment antiferromagnetism (LMAF), which stabilizes under pressure, is intrinsically first order and ends in a bicritical point. Therefore, the HO and LMAF must have different symmetry, which supports exotic scenarios of the HO such as orbital currents, helicity order, or multipolar order.