Tuning materials properties on demand is at the heart of condensed matter science. Electronic transport and magnetism are strongly linked to the overlap of electronic wave functions and can be, thus, manipulated by varying the electronic bandwidth through chemical substitution or physical pressure. Yet, a controlled variation of the symmetry, anisotropy and frustration of transfer integrals and exchange interactions remained inaccessible so far.
Here, we explore Mott insulators subject to strong antiferromagnetic interactions, where geometrical frustration suppresses magnetic order entirely [1] or down to very low temperatures TN << J [2]. Utilizing the recent advancements in strain tuning of unconventional superconductors [3-6], we apply uniaxial stress to tune the Mott transition and unconventional superconductivity of a triangular-lattice compound in fine steps with unprecedented precision. Through the slope of the metal-insulator boundary in the temperature-pressure phase diagram we pinpoint the nonmagnetic ground state of the most intensely studied quantum-spin-liquid candidate [1,7]. Moreover, we obtain direct control of antiferromagnetic order within one single crystal by applying in situ uniaxial pressure to a kagome-lattice compound [2]. As the applied stress reduces the frustration strength, the transition temperature is enhanced by 10%. Our pioneering endeavors demonstrate uniaxial strain as a powerful tool to tune correlated electrons between insulating, (non)magnetic, metallic and superconducting states – towards stabilizing novel, exotic, possibly even quantum entangled phases.
[1] A. Pustogow, Y. Kawasugi, H. Sakurakoji, and N. Tajima, Nat. Commun. 14, 1960 (2023)
[2] Jierong Wang, Y.-S. Su, M. Spitaler, K.M. Zoch, C. Krellner, P. Puphal, S.E. Brown, and A. Pustogow, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 256501 (2023)
[3] C.W. Hicks, D.O. Brodsky, E.A. Yelland, A.S. Gibbs, J.A.N. Bruin, M.E. Barber, S.D. Edkins, K. Nishimura, S. Yonezawa, Y. Maeno, & A.P. Mackenzie, Science 344, 283 LP (2014)
[4] Y. Luo, A. Pustogow, P. Guzman, A. P. Dioguardi, S. M. Thomas, F. Ronning, N. Kikugawa, D. A. Sokolov, F. Jerzembeck, A. P. Mackenzie, C.W. Hicks, E. D. Bauer, I. I. Mazin, and S. E. Brown, Phys. Rev. X 9, 021044 (2019)
[5] A. Pustogow, Y. Luo, A. Chronister, Y.-S. Su, D. A. Sokolov, F. Jerzembeck, A. P. Mackenzie, C. W. Hicks, N. Kikugawa, S. Raghu, E. D. Bauer, and S. E. Brown, Nature 574, 72–75 (2019)
[6] A. Chronister, M. Zingl, A. Pustogow, Y. Luo, D. A. Sokolov, N. Kikugawa, C. W. Hicks, F. Jerzembeck, J. Mravlje, E. D. Bauer, A. P. Mackenzie, A. Georges, and S. E. Brown, npj Quantum Materials 7, 113 (2022)
[7] B. Miksch, A. Pustogow, M. Javaheri Rahim, A. A. Bardin, K. Kanoda, J. A. Schlueter, R. Hübner, M. Scheffler, and M. Dressel, Science 372, 276-279 (2021)