Related papers: Discovery of spontaneous mesoscopic strain waves i…
Nematicity is ubiquitous in electronic phases of high transition temperature superconductors, particularly in iron-based superconductors (IBSCs). Order parameter that characterizes the nematic phase has been investigated in momentum space,…
In many high temperature superconductors, small orthorhombic distortions of the lattice structure result in surprisingly large symmetry breaking of the electronic states and macroscopic properties, an effect often referred to as nematicity.…
Electronic nematic and smectic liquid crystals are spontaneous symmetry-breaking phases that are seen to precede or coexist with enigmatic unconventional superconducting states in multiple classes of materials. In this Letter we describe…
Changes in strain can be used to modify electronic and magnetic properties in crystal structures, to manipulate nanoparticles and cells, or to control chemical reactions. The magneto-elastic (ME) effect--the change of magnetic properties…
The electronic nematic phase is an unconventional state of matter that spontaneously breaks the rotational symmetry of electrons. In iron-pnictides/chalcogenides and cuprates, the nematic ordering and fluctuations have been suggested to…
Nematic order often breaks the tetragonal symmetry of iron-based superconductors. It arises from regular structural transition or electronic instability in the normal phase. Here, we report the observation of a nematic superconducting…
The newly-discovered ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal exhibits a variety of unique defect phenomena. The depolarization field in the material favors spontaneous spatial variations in polarization, manifesting in diverse forms such as…
Electronic scattering is a powerful tool to identify underlying changes in electronic behavior and incipient electronic and magnetic orders. The nematic and magnetic phases are strongly intertwined under applied pressure in FeSe, however,…
An experimental determination of electronic phase diagrams of high-transition temperature (high-$T_c$) superconductors forms the basis for a microscopic understanding of unconventional superconductivity. For most high-$T_c$ superconductors,…
Mechanical strain is a powerful technique for tuning electronic structure and interactions in quantum materials. In a system with tetragonal symmetry, a tunable uniaxial in-plane strain can be used to probe nematic correlations in the same…
In a material prone to a nematic instability, anisotropic strain in principle provides a preferred symmetry-breaking direction for the electronic nematic state to follow. This is consistent with experimental observations, where electronic…
We show that biaxial strain induces alternating tetragonal superconducting and orthorhombic nematic domains in Co substituted CaFe2As2. We use Atomic Force, Magnetic Force and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (AFM, MFM and STM) to identify the…
Exotic quantum solids can host electronic states that spontaneously break rotational symmetry of the electronic structure, such as electronic nematic phases and unidirectional charge density waves (CDWs). When electrons couple to the…
An electronic nematic state spontaneously breaks a point-group symmetry of an underlying lattice. As a result, the nematic-isotropic transition accompanies a Fermi surface distortion. However, the anisotropic nature of the nematic state at…
Electronic nematicity, a correlated state characterized by broken rotational symmetry, has been recognized as a ubiquitous feature intertwined with unconventional electron pairing in various iron-based superconductors. Here we employ…
Studies of the copper-based superconductors demonstrate how their phase diagram becomes more complex as experimental probes improve, able to distinguish among subtly different electronic phases. One of those phases, nematicity, has become…
Electronic liquid crystal (ELC) phases are spontaneous symmetry breaking states believed to arise from strong electron correlation in quantum materials such as cuprates and iron pnictides. Here, we report a direct observation of a smectic…
Due to the intertwining between electronic nematic and elastic degrees of freedom, lattice defects and structural inhomogeneities commonly found in crystals can have a significant impact on the electronic properties of nematic materials.…
Electronic nematicity is rarely observed as an isolated instability of a correlated electron system. Instead, in iron pnictides and in certain cuprates and heavy-fermion materials, nematicity is intertwined with an underlying spin-stripe or…
The iron-based high temperature superconductors exhibit a rich phase diagram reflecting a complex interplay between spin, lattice, and orbital degrees of freedom [1-4]. The nematic state observed in many of these compounds epitomizes this…