Quantum Critical Behavior in a Concentrated Ternary Solid Solution

Abstract

The face centered cubic (fcc) alloy NiCoCr x with x ≈ 1 is found to be close to the Cr concentration where the ferromagnetic transition temperature, T c , goes to 0. Near this composition these alloys exhibit a resistivity linear in temperature to 2 K, a linear magnetoresistance, an excess –TlnT (or power law) contribution to the low temperature heat capacity and excess low temperature entropy. All of the low temperature electrical, magnetic and thermodynamic properties of the alloys with compositions near x ≈ 1 are not typical of a Fermi liquid and suggest strong magnetic fluctuations associated with a quantum critical region. The limit of extreme chemical disorder in this simple fcc material thus provides a novel and unique platform to study quantum critical behavior in a highly tunable system.