Probing the Strongly Correlated Quantum Materials with Advanced Scanning Tunneling Microscopy/Spectroscopy

Abstract

We used spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy (SI-STM) and spin-polarized STM (SP-STM) to unveil new electronic phenomena in several different quantum systems. We explored: (1) a potential topological superconductor heterostructure Bi₂Te₃/Fe(Te, Se), (2) high-Tc superconductors − Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈₊ₓ and Fe(Te, Se), and (3) doped spin-orbit Mott insulators Sr₂IrO₄ and Sr₃Ir₂O₇. In Bi₂Te₃/Fe(Te, Se), we observed superconductivity (SC) on the surface of Bi₂Te₃ thin film, induced by the iron-based superconductor substrate. By annealing the optimally-doped cuprate superconductor Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈₊ₓ, we drastically lowered the surface hole doping concentration to detect a unidirectional charge stripe order, the first reported charge order on an insulating (defined by the spectral gap with zero conductance spanning the Fermi level) cuprates surface. In the high-Tc SC Fe(Te, Se) single crystal, we found local regions of electronic nematicity, characterized by C₂ quasiparticle interference (QPI) induced by Fermi surface anisotropy and inequivalent spectral weight of dyz and dxz orbitals near Fermi level. Interestingly, the nematic order is locally strongly anti-correlated with superconductivity. Finally, utilizing SP-STM, we observed a short-range antiferromagnetic (AF) order near the insulator-metal transition (IMT) in spin-orbital Mott insulators Sr₂IrO₄ and Sr₃Ir₂O₇. The AF order inhomogeneity is found not to be strongly correlated with the charge gap. Interestingly, the AF order in the bi-layered Sr₃Ir₂O₇ shows residual memory behavior with temperature cycling. Overall, our work revealed new phenomena in a range of today’s most intriguing materials and set the stage for using SP-STM in other complex oxides.