Observation of three-state nematicity in the triangular lattice antiferromagnet Fe${}_{1/3}$ NbS${}_2$

Abstract

Nematic order is the breaking of rotational symmetry in the presence of translational invariance. While originally defined in the context of liquid crystals, the concept of nematic order has arisen in crystalline matter with discrete rotational symmetry, most prominently in the tetragonal Fe-based superconductors where the parent state is four-fold symmetric. In this case the nematic director takes on only two directions, and the order parameter in such "Ising-nematic" systems is a simple scalar. Here, using a novel spatially-resolved optical polarimetry technique, we show that a qualitatively distinct nematic state arises in the triangular lattice antiferromagnet Fe${}_{1/3}$NbS${}_2$. The crucial difference is that the nematic order on the triangular lattice is a Z${}_3$, or three-state Potts-nematic order parameter. As a consequence, the anisotropy axes of response functions such as the resistivity tensor can be continuously re-oriented by external perturbations. This discovery provides insight into realizing devices that exploit analogies with nematic liquid crystals.

arXiv commentThe main text is 16 pages, including 5 figures and references. Supplementary information is appended at the end of the article

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• Magnetic interactions in intercalated transition metal dichalcogenides: a study based on ab initio model construction
• Cascade of vestigial orders in two-component superconductors: nematic, ferromagnetic, s-wave charge-4e, and d-wave charge-4e states
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• Enhanced nematicity emerging from higher-order van Hove singularities
• Symmetry-breaking pathway towards the unpinned broken helix
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• Classification of electronic nematicity in three-dimensional crystals and quasicrystals
• Frustrated Magnetic Cycloidal Structure and Emergent Potts Nematicity in CaMn${}_2$P${}_2$
• Coupling between Antiferromagnetic and Spin Glass Orders in the Quasi-One-Dimensional Iron Telluride TaFe${}_{1+x}$Te${}_3$ ($x$=0.25)
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• A critical nematic phase with pseudogap-like behavior in twisted bilayers
• Theories for charge-driven nematicity in kagome metals
• Transport anomalies in the layered compound BaPt4Se6
• Heisenberg spins on an anisotropic triangular lattice: PdCrO2 under uniaxial stress
• Light-induced reorientation transition in an antiferromagnetic semiconductor
• Hard ferromagnetism down to the thinnest limit of iron-intercalated tantalum disulfide
• Effects of strain-tunable valleys on charge transport in bismuth
• Compatible Instability: Gauge Constraints of Elasticity Inherited by Electronic Nematic Criticality
• Magnetism in $M_{1/3}$NbS${}_2$ ($M$ = Fe, V, Mn): insight into intercalated transition-metal dichalcogenides using $\mu$SR
• Orbital selective order and ${\mathbb{Z}}_3$ Potts nematicity from a non-Fermi liquid
• Signatures of three-state Potts nematicity in spin excitations of the van der Waals antiferromagnet FePSe${}_3$
• Emergent 3D Fermiology and Magnetism in an Intercalated Van der Waals System
• Persistence of large and gate-tunable anisotropic magnetoresistance in an atomically thin antiferromagnet