Nanoscale visualization of the thermally-driven evolution of antiferromagnetic domains in FeTe thin films

Abstract

Antiferromagnetic order, being a ground state of a number of exotic quantum materials, is of immense interest both from the fundamental physics perspective and for driving potential technological applications. For a complete understanding of antiferromagnetism in materials, nanoscale visualization of antiferromagnetic domains, domain walls and their robustness to external perturbations is highly desirable. Here, we synthesize antiferromagnetic FeTe thin films using molecular beam epitaxy. We visualize local antiferromagnetic ordering and domain formation using spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy. From the atomically-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy topographs, we calculate local structural distortions to find a high correlation with the distribution of the antiferromagnetic order. This is consistent with the monoclinic structure in the antiferromagnetic state. Interestingly, we observe a substantial domain wall change by small temperature variations, unexpected for the low temperature changes used compared to the much higher antiferromagnetic ordering temperature of FeTe. This is in contrast to electronic nematic domains in the cousin FeSe multilayer films, where we find no electronic or structural change within the same temperature range. Our experiments provide the first atomic-scale imaging of perturbation-driven magnetic domain evolution simultaneous with the ensuing structural response of the system. The results reveal surprising thermally-driven modulations of antiferromagnetic domains in FeTe thin films well below the Neel temperature.

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Molecular beam epitaxy of superconducting FeSe${}_x$Te${}_{1-x}$ thin films interfaced with magnetic topological insulators
• Stoichiometric FeTe is a Superconductor
• Quantifying magnetic field driven lattice distortions in kagome metals at the femto-scale using scanning tunneling microscopy
• Nanoscale strain manipulation of smectic susceptibility in kagome superconductors
• Reversible tuning of magnetic order and intrinsic superconductivity in strained FeTe films via stoichiometry control