Giant Periodic Pseudomagnetic Fields in Strained Kagome Magnet FeSn Epitaxial Films on SrTiO<sub>3</sub>(111) Substrate.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36912449.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c00345 and PMC identifier 10037333.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Quantum materials, particularly Dirac materials with linearly dispersing bands, can be effectively tuned by strain-induced lattice distortions leading to a pseudomagnetic field that strongly modulates their electronic properties. Here, we grow kagome magnet FeSn films, consisting of alternatingly stacked Sn<sub>2</sub> honeycomb (stanene) and Fe<sub>3</sub>Sn kagome layers, on SrTiO<sub>3</sub>(111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, we show that the Sn honeycomb layer can be periodically deformed by epitaxial strain for a film thickness below 10 nm, resulting in differential conductance peaks consistent with Landau levels generated by a pseudomagnetic field greater than 1000 T. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of strain engineering the electronic properties of topological magnets at the nanoscale.