Larmor diffraction studies on the ferromagnetic superconductor UGe2

Larmor diffraction (LD) is a novel technique based on the Larmor precession of polarized neutrons that surpasses the resolution of conventional scattering methods by two orders of magnitude. For a long time it was thought that it is not possible to measure LD on systems with depolarizing properties, such as ferromagnets. We present thermal expansion measurements under pressure by means of Larmor diffraction (LD) on the superconducting Ising ferromagnet UGe2. LD allowed us to measure magnetization and thermal expansion under pressure in the same setup and hence to directly compare transition temperatures. We found that the thermal expansion near TX, the transition between two ferromagnetic phases which is believed to drive superconductivity, shows a clear transition in the b- and c-axis under pressure at a temperature a few K higher than for the a-axis and the ferromagnetic Bragg peak. We are considering different mechanisms how this may be connected with the superconductivity in UGe2.