Strain Tuning Three-state Potts Nematicity in a Correlated Antiferromagnet

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Hwangbo, Kyle, Rosenberg, Elliott, Cenker, John, Jiang, Qianni, Wen, Haidan, Xiao, Di, Chu, Jiun-Haw, Xu, Xiaodong
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2023
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author Hwangbo, Kyle
Rosenberg, Elliott
Cenker, John
Jiang, Qianni
Wen, Haidan
Xiao, Di
Chu, Jiun-Haw
Xu, Xiaodong
author_facet Hwangbo, Kyle
Rosenberg, Elliott
Cenker, John
Jiang, Qianni
Wen, Haidan
Xiao, Di
Chu, Jiun-Haw
Xu, Xiaodong
contents Electronic nematicity, a state in which rotational symmetry is spontaneously broken, has become a familiar characteristic of many strongly correlated materials. One widely studied example is the discovered Ising-nematicity and its interplay with superconductivity in tetragonal iron pnictides. Since nematic directors in crystalline solids are restricted by the underlying crystal symmetry, recently identified quantum material systems with three-fold rotational (C$_3$) symmetry offer a new platform to investigate nematic order with three-state Potts character. Here, we report reversible strain control of the three-state Potts nematicity in a zigzag antiferromagnetic insulator, FePSe$_3$. Probing the nematicity via optical linear dichroism, we demonstrate either $2π/3$ or $π/2$ rotation of nematic director by uniaxial strain. The nature of the nematic phase transition can also be controlled such that it undergoes a smooth crossover transition, a Potts nematic transition, or a Ising nematic flop transition. Further elastocaloric measurements demonstrate signatures of two coupled phase transitions, indicating that the nematic phase is a vestigial order arose from the antiferromagnetism. The ability to tune the nematic order with in-situ strain further enables the extraction of nematic susceptibility, which exhibits a divergent behavior near the magnetic ordering temperature that is corroborated with both linear dichroism and elastocaloric measurements. Our work points to an active control approach to manipulate and explore nematicity in three-state Potts correlated materials.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2308_08734
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Strain Tuning Three-state Potts Nematicity in a Correlated Antiferromagnet
Hwangbo, Kyle
Rosenberg, Elliott
Cenker, John
Jiang, Qianni
Wen, Haidan
Xiao, Di
Chu, Jiun-Haw
Xu, Xiaodong
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Electronic nematicity, a state in which rotational symmetry is spontaneously broken, has become a familiar characteristic of many strongly correlated materials. One widely studied example is the discovered Ising-nematicity and its interplay with superconductivity in tetragonal iron pnictides. Since nematic directors in crystalline solids are restricted by the underlying crystal symmetry, recently identified quantum material systems with three-fold rotational (C$_3$) symmetry offer a new platform to investigate nematic order with three-state Potts character. Here, we report reversible strain control of the three-state Potts nematicity in a zigzag antiferromagnetic insulator, FePSe$_3$. Probing the nematicity via optical linear dichroism, we demonstrate either $2π/3$ or $π/2$ rotation of nematic director by uniaxial strain. The nature of the nematic phase transition can also be controlled such that it undergoes a smooth crossover transition, a Potts nematic transition, or a Ising nematic flop transition. Further elastocaloric measurements demonstrate signatures of two coupled phase transitions, indicating that the nematic phase is a vestigial order arose from the antiferromagnetism. The ability to tune the nematic order with in-situ strain further enables the extraction of nematic susceptibility, which exhibits a divergent behavior near the magnetic ordering temperature that is corroborated with both linear dichroism and elastocaloric measurements. Our work points to an active control approach to manipulate and explore nematicity in three-state Potts correlated materials.
title Strain Tuning Three-state Potts Nematicity in a Correlated Antiferromagnet
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.08734