Tuning electronic properties on demand is at the heart of condensed matter science, which can be achieved by varying the overlap of electronic wave functions through chemical substitution or physical pressure. It is predicted that strongly interacting spins on a frustrated lattice may form a quantum spin liquid with exotic low-energy excitations. However, a controlled tuning of the frustration strength, separating its effects from those of disorder and other factors, is pending.
Here, we explore Mott insulators subject to strong antiferromagnetic interactions, where geometrical frustration suppresses magnetic order down to very low temperatures TN << J [1] or entirely [2,3]. Utilizing the recent advancements in strain tuning of the unconventional superconductor Sr2RuO4 [4-7], we apply uniaxial stress to a triangular-lattice compound enabling us to tune the Mott transition and unconventional superconductivity with unprecedented precision. This way, we pinpoint the nonmagnetic ground state of one of the hottest quantum-spin-liquid candidates through the slope of its metal-insulator boundary in the temperature-pressure phase diagram [2,3]. Moreover, we obtain direct control of antiferromagnetic order within one kagome-lattice single crystal by applying in situ uniaxial strain [2]. Breaking the symmetry in a controlled manner yields a linear increase of TN by 10% as stress reduces the frustration strength, in line with theoretical predictions for a distorted kagome lattice. Our pioneering endeavors [1,2,5-7] demonstrate uniaxial strain as a powerful tool to tune correlated electrons in situ between insulating, (non)magnetic, metallic and superconducting states – towards stabilizing novel, exotic, possibly even quantum entangled phases.
[1] 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)
[2] A. Pustogow, Y. Kawasugi, H. Sakurakoji, and N. Tajima, Nat. Commun. 14, 1960 (2023)
[3] 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)
[4] 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)
[5] 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)
[6] 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)
[7] 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)