Abstract
The weakness of electron-electron correlations in the itinerant antiferromagnet Cr doped with V has
long been considered the reason that neither new collective electronic states or even non Fermi liquid
behaviour are observed when antiferromagnetism in Cr1−xVx is suppressed to zero temperature. We
present the results of neutron and electron diffraction measurements of several lightly doped single crystals
of Cr1−xVx in which the archtypal spin density wave instability is progressively suppressed as the V
content increases, freeing the nesting-prone Fermi surface for a new striped charge instability that occurs
at xc=0.037. This novel nesting driven instability relieves the entropy accumulation associated with the
suppression of the spin density wave and avoids the formation of a quantum critical point by stabilising
a new type of charge order at temperatures in excess of 400 K. Restructuring of the Fermi surface near
quantum critical points is a feature found in materials as diverse as heavy fermions, high temperature
copper oxide superconductors and now even elemental metals such as Cr.
