Rigid platform for applying large tunable strains to mechanically delicate samples

Abstract

Response to uniaxial stress has become a major probe of electronic materials. Tuneable uniaxial stress may be applied using piezoelectric actuators, and so far two methods have been developed to couple samples to actuators. In one, actuators apply force along the length of a free, beam-like sample, allowing very large strains to be achieved. In the other, samples are affixed directly to piezoelectric actuators, allowing study of mechanically delicate materials. Here, we describe an approach that merges the two: thin samples are affixed to a substrate, that is then pressurized uniaxially using piezoelectric actuators. Using this approach, we demonstrate application of large elastic strains to mechanically delicate samples: the van der Waals-bonded material FeSe, and a sample of CeAuSb${}_2$ that was shaped with a focused ion beam.

arXiv comment11 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (18)

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• Evidence for hydrodynamic electron flow in PdCoO${}_2$
• Emergence of the nematic electronic state in FeSe
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• Multi-Q mesoscale magnetism in CeAuSb${}_2$
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• Rapid Suppression of the Charge Density Wave in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{6.6}$ under Hydrostatic Pressure
• Acoustic characteristics of FeSe single crystals Acoustic characteristics of FeSe single crystals
• Field-Temperature Phase Diagram and Entropy Landscape of CeAuSb${}_2$
• Effect of Applied Orthorhombic Lattice Distortion on the Antiferromagnetic Phase of CeAuSb${}_2$

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Strain-engineering the topological type-II Dirac semimetal NiTe${}_2$
• Strain-tuning of nematicity and superconductivity in single crystals of FeSe
• The relationship between transport anisotropy and nematicity in FeSe
• Spontaneous orbital polarization in the nematic phase of FeSe
• Emergent Tetragonality in a Fundamentally Orthorhombic Material
• Continuously tunable uniaxial strain control of van der Waals heterostructure devices
• Ultrafast measurements under anisotropic strain reveal near equivalence of competing charge orders in TbTe${}_3$
• Microstructuring YbRh2Si2 for resistance and noise measurements down to ultra-low temperatures
• Emergent interlayer magnetic order via strain-induced orthorhombic distortion in the 5d Mott insulator Sr2IrO4
• Uniaxial stress effect on the electronic structure of quantum materials
• Effects of strain-tunable valleys on charge transport in bismuth
• Development of microwave surface elastoresistivity measurement technique under tunable strain