High pressure investigation of charge density wave ordering in antiferromagnetic GdNiC2

The family of RNiC2 presents a diversity of electronic ground states, including charge density waves (CDW), magnetic ordering and superconductivity. The characteristics of the charge and magnetic ordering, as well as the interrelation of the two, changes significantly upon replacing the rare earth element, an observation partially attributed to chemical pressure effects. In our recent x-ray diffraction (XRD) experiment we have used hydrostatic pressure (HP) as an alternative tuning parameter of the CDW ordering and its interplay with magnetism. This experiment was focused on ferromagnetic SmNiC2 and has revealed a rich (P,T) phase diagram. Here, we propose to extend our HP XRD study to the antiferromagnetic GdNiC2. The aims of the experiment will be to investigate how does the landscape of the CDW instabilities change when a different type of magnetic ordering sets in and how generic is the (P,T) phase diagram and the newly discovered incommensurate CDW to the RNiC2 family.