Under Extreme Electric Fields*

The macroscopic properties of quantum materials are heavily influenced by collective modes, however there are only a few examples where the coherence of the ground-state wavefunction directly contributes to the conductivity. Notable examples include the collective sliding of charge density waves when subjected to high electric fields and the macroscopic phase coherence that enables superconductors to carry dissipationless currents. In the long-studied heavy fermion URu₂Si₂ we observe such a connection between the quantum and macroscopic worlds in the low temperature hidden order state. Under large voltage bias non-linear contributions to the conductivity are observed that are directly analogous to the manifestation of phase slip centers in one-dimensional superconductors. LA-UR-17-30109