Real-space imaging of the atomic-scale magnetic structure of Fe1+yTe
Abstract
Spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy (SP-STM) has been used extensively to study magnetic properties of nanostructures. Using SP-STM to visualize magnetic order in strongly correlated materials on an atomic scale is highly desirable, but challenging. We achieved this goal in iron tellurium (Fe1+yTe), the nonsuperconducting parent compound of the iron chalcogenides, by using a STM tip with a magnetic cluster at its apex. Our images of the magnetic structure reveal that the magnetic order in the monoclinic phase is a unidirectional stripe order; in the orthorhombic phase at higher excess iron concentration (y > 0.12), a transition to a phase with coexisting magnetic orders in both directions is observed. It may be possible to generalize the technique to other high-temperature superconductor families, such as the cuprates.
Citation
Enayat , M , Sun , Z , Singh , U R , Aluru , R , Schmaus , S , Yaresko , A , Liu , Y , Lin , C , Tsurkan , V , Loidl , A , Deisenhofer , J & Wahl , P 2014 , ' Real-space imaging of the atomic-scale magnetic structure of Fe 1+ y Te ' , Science , vol. 345 , no. 6197 , pp. 653-656 . https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1251682
Publication
Science
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0036-8075Type
Journal article
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