Spatially modulated superconductivity in CeIrIn<sub>5</sub> microstructures

ORAL

Abstract

We present scanning SQUID microscopy of CeIrIn5 Focused Ion Beam (FIB) defined microstructures. By imaging the diamagnetic response of the microstructure, we identify micrometer scale modulation in the superconducting transition temperature. We find that the rich spatial structure of the superconducting and metallic regions in the device is determined by a strain field generated by the thermal contraction mismatch between CeIrIn5 and the sapphire substrate. By imaging microstructures with different FIB defined features, we demonstrate that the both the strain field and the geometry of the superconducting regions can be controlled with the FIB. Given that strain can serve as a clean tuning parameter for strongly correlated matter, our experimental approach illustrates a general approach to modulating the electronic properties of these materials on micrometer length scales.

*Work at Cornell University was supported primarily by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, under Award DE-SC0015947 (scanning SQUID imaging, implementation of mK microscope). We also acknowledge funding from the Cornell Center of Materials Research with funding from the NSF MRSEC program under Award DMR-1719875 (SQUID and microscope design).

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Presenters

  • George Ferguson

    • Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University
    • Cornell University

Authors

  • George Ferguson

    • Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University
    • Cornell University

  • Maja Bachmann

    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden, Germany

  • Florian Theuss

    • Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University

  • Tobias Meng

    • Institute for Theoretical Physics, Technical University Dresden
    • TU Dresden

  • Carsten Putzke

    • Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne
    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids

  • Toni Helm

    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
    • High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf

  • Kent Shirer

    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden, Germany

  • YOU-SHENG LI

    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
    • Max-Planck-Institut for Chemical Physics of Solids

  • Kimberly Modic

    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics

  • Michael Nicklas

    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Nöthnitzer Str. 40 D-01187 Dresden, Germany

  • Markus Koenig

    • Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden, Germany

  • David Low

    • Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University
    • Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University
    • Cornell University

  • Sayak Ghosh

    • Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University

  • Andrew Mackenzie

    • Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden,Germany
    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden, Germany
    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, 01187 Dresden, Germany
    • Max-Planck-Institut for Chemical Physics of Solids
    • Physics of Quantum Materials, Max Planck Institute of Chemical Physics of Solids

  • Frank Arnold

    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids

  • Elena Hassinger

    • Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids

  • Ross McDonald

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Los Alamos National Labs
    • National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, LANL
    • Pulsed Field Faclity, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
    • National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

  • Laurel Winter

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • MST-16, Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

  • Eric Bauer

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • MPA-CMMS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, USA
    • MPA-CMMS, Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
    • Los Alamos National Labs

  • Filip Ronning

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • MPA-CMMS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, USA
    • MPA-CMMS, Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
    • Los Alamos National Labs

  • Brad Ramshaw

    • Cornell University
    • Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University
    • Physics, Cornell University
    • Laboratory of atomic and solid state physics, Cornell university

  • Philip Moll

    • Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne
    • Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
    • École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Institute of Materials, Lausanne, Switzerland
    • Institute of Materials, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
    • Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

  • Katja Nowack

    • Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University
    • Department of Physics, Cornell University
    • Cornell University