A quest for the magnetic-field-induced liquid-liquid transition of oxygen

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K23421
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0202:Condensed matter physics, plasma science, nuclear engineering, earth resources engineering, energy engineering, and related fields
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Nomura Toshihiro 東京大学, 物性研究所, 助教 (20845987)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 超強磁場 / 磁性 / 酸素 / 液体

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Liquid-liquid transition (LLT) is a surprising phenomenon which indicates translational and rotational symmetry breaking in liquid state which was considered to be isotropic. So far, the LLT was studied by tuning temperature and pressure as parameters. In this research, we propose to include magnetic field as a new tuning parameter to study LLTs. A promising candidate for the magnetic-field-induced LLT is liquid oxygen, which is a paramagnetic liquid with strong antiferromagnetic correlations. By using a single-turn-coil system, we studied the optical and elastic properties of liquid oxygen up to 150 T. These results indicated a strong elastic fluctuation under magnetic fields, which might be a precursor of the LLT. In the future study, higher field property of liquid oxygen has to be investigated.

Free Research Field

磁性

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

液体という状態は、固体や気体と比べて理論的に取り扱いにくい性質を持つ。液体ー液体相転移は液体における部分的な対称性の破れに起因する現象であり、液体という状態の理解を深める手がかりとして非常に有用である。これまでの研究で温度・圧力を制御した研究が行われてきたが、本研究では「磁場」を導入することで液体ー液体相転移の新たな一面にフォーカスした。観測には至らなかったが、本研究をきっかけとして他の物質で磁場誘起液体ー液体相転移が発見される可能性がある。