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We measure the penetration depth λab(T) in Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 using local techniques that do not average over the sample. The superfluid density ρs(T)≡1/λab(T)2 has three main features. First, ρs(T=0) falls sharply on the underdoped side of the dome. Second, λab(T) is flat at low T at optimal doping, indicating fully gapped superconductivity, but varies more strongly in underdoped and overdoped samples, consistent with either a power law or a small second gap. Third, ρs(T) varies steeply near Tc for optimal and underdoping. These observations are consistent with an interplay between magnetic and superconducting phases. Publisher PDF

Uniaxial stress is a powerful technique to tune the electronic structure of very pure materials. The novel piezoelectric-based techniques developed by our group, which allow application of large and homogeneous uniaxial pressure in a continuously-tunable manner, make uniaxial pressure an independent axis in the parameter space for the study of quantum materials. Many exciting experiments have been performed that combine different measurement methods with this uniaxial stress technique in the past few years. In this thesis, I demonstrate the first electrical transport measurement under uniaxial pressure of a free-standing microstructure single-crystalline sample patterned by focused ion beam (FIB) milling. With the microstructuring technique that I developed, the transport properties transverse to the force direction can be more accurately probed. The ability to resolve the anisotropy introduced by the uniaxial pressure lets us have a better understanding of how the electronic structure of Sr₂RuO₄ changes under uniaxial stress. Moreover, the microstructure technique opens new roads for smaller crystals (∼ 100 µm) to be studied under uniaxial pressure. In addition, higher stresses and better sample homogeneity could be achieved by working with smaller samples. For Sr₂RuO₄, one of the three Fermi-surface sheets can be driven through a Lifshitz transition by applying uniaxial stress along the [100] direction. Superconductivity and resistivity have been observed to be strongly enhanced at the singularity. In addition, a spin-density wave (SDW) has been observed at stresses beyond the Lifshitz transition. Measurement of the Hall effect under uniaxial stress allows us to probe Hund’s metal physics in Sr₂RuO₄. The Hall coefficient of unstressed Sr₂RuO₄ goes through two sign reversals, at 30 K and 120 K. Under the Hund’s metal scenario, this temperature dependence has been proposed to result from orbital differentiation of the inelastic scattering rate, which is a key property expected of Hund’s metals. In the present study, it is shown that at a temperature where electron-electron scattering dominates (≳ 5 K), the Hall coefficient becomes less electron-like while approaching the VHS, which is consistent with increased scattering in the d_xy band. Beyond the transition, the Hall coefficient becomes much more electron-like, which is opposite to expectations from the change in Fermi surface topology, but can be explained by a combination of Hund’s metal physics and strong suppression in the d_xy scattering rate. At very low temperature (0.5 K), the Hall coefficient is essentially unchanged across the Lifshitz transition, despite the change in the Fermi-surface topology. In contrast to the longitudinal resistivity that has a strong peak at the VHS but does not respond to the SDW, the resistance transverse to the force direction shows a strong response to the SDW, but only a small response at the VHS. In addition, I obtain ρ(T) at the Lifshitz transition below Tc by subtracting off the magnetoresistance and find that T² ln(1/T) fits better than T^3/2, which suggests a saddle point rather than an extended saddle point at the VHS.:1. Introduction to Sr2RuO4 1.1. Normal-State Properties Van Hove Singularity and Lifshitz Transition in Sr2RuO4 1.2. Hall Effect in Sr2RuO4 Weak-field Hall Coefficient Experimental Hall Coefficient in Sr2RuO4 and Related Systems 1.3. Hund’s Metal Scenario Dynamical Mean-Field Theory Experimental Evidence for Orbital Differentiation in Sr2RuO4 Hall Coefficient of Sr2RuO4 within Hund’s Metal Scenario 1.4 Uniaxial-Pressure Projects on Sr2RuO4 2. Experimental Setup 2.1. Stress and Strain 2.2. Uniaxial Stress Technique Uniaxial-Stress Cell Sample Carrier 2.3. Imperfections of the Stress Cells 2.4. Sample Preparation Needle Sample Preparation Microstructure Sample Preparation Comparison of the Two Samples 2.5. Measurement Setup 3He Cryostat Transport Measurement Setup 3. Hall Coefficient and Resistivity Measurements 3.1. Basics of Resistivity Measurement Stress Ramps 3.2. Basics of Hall Measurement Setup Field Dependence of Hall Resistivity Temperature Dependence of Hall Coefficient 3.3. Stress Ramps under Constant Magnetic Field 3.4. Stress Dependence of Hall Coefficient and Resistivity 3.5. Resistivity Measurements below Tc 3.6. Field Sweeps within the Magnetic Phase 3.7. Summary 4. Measurements Transverse to the Stress Axis 4.1. Setup for Transport Measurements Transverse to the Uniaxial Stress 4.2. Simulations Based on Finite Element Method 4.3. Resistance Measurements Transverse to Applied Stress 4.4. Summary 5. Data Analysis and Discussion 5.1. A Tight-Binding Model under Uniaxial Pressure 5.2. Analysis of Hall Coefficient across the Lifshitz Transition Hall Coefficient Analysis under the Isotropic-l or Isotropic-τ Approximations Hall Coefficient Analysis under Hund’s Metal Scenario 5.3. Magnetoresistance Subtraction in Temperature Ramps 5.4. Transport Properties at 5 K 5.5. Summary 6. Conclusions and Outlook Appendices A. Si-Gap-Platform Microstructure Project A.1. Si-Gap Platform A.2. Sample Preparation with PFIB-Microstructuring A.3. Microstructure Stress Cells B. Other results B.1. Hall Effect from the Hall Pair 2 B.2. Magnetoresistance in Longitudinal and Transverse Configurations B.3. Toward -1.5 GPa B.4. Comparison of RH(T) in Sr2RuO4 Compressed along [100] Direction and YBa2Cu3O6.67 Compressed along the b-axis Bibliography

Magnetic materials are of great research interest because of their potential applications. Most Mn-based compounds exhibit magnetic ordering, being antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic depending on their crystal structure. Many of these compounds have complex non-collinear magnetic structures that can give rise to exotic and robust phenomena. The scope of this thesis encompasses two independent projects on exploring single-crystalline Mn-based compounds with magnetic properties: (i) the study of the thickness-dependent magnetic textures in ferromagnetic Mn1.4PtSn by means of Focused Ion Beam (FIB) for sample shaping and Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) for imaging, and (ii) the experimental demonstration of an anomalous Hall effect in non-collinear antiferromagnetic Mn3Pt, revealed with the aid of uniaxial pressure tuned in-situ. The first chapter motivates the study of magnetic materials and introduces the theoretical framework on which they are understood. In particular, refers to the energy contributions of magnetic origin and gives an overview of the Hall effect and how it is used to probe magnetic properties, from ferromagnetism to non-collinear antiferromagnetism and non-coplanar spin textures (such as the so-called skyrmions). The second chapter is dedicated to the ferromagnetic compound Mn1.4PtSn. It starts by introducing concepts important in the context of magnetic domains. A variety of magnetic textures are discussed, in particular antiskyrmions which differ from regular skyrmions by their internal structure. A material-specific introduction is given, starting by its discovery as the first antiskyrmion-hosting compound (when in thin-plate shape) and including recent literature showing by means of neutron scattering how magnetic domains in bulk single crystals are best described as anisotropic fractals. This study complements our first observations in real-space MFM images of the magnetic texture in this material. The detailed study of the dependence of the magnetic domains as a function of sample thickness is presented and analyzed. The third and final chapter focuses on antiferromagnetic Mn3Pt. To motivate the experiment, the theoretical study that predicts the presence of an intrinsic zero-field anomalous contribution to the Hall effect for this material is introduced. Next, the experimental investigation of single crystals of Mn3Pt is presented, where a Hall effect dominated by the ordinary contribution in the temperature range from 10 to 300 K is found. Thereafter, the response of the Hall effect to uniaxial pressure tuned in-situ is explored. When the sample is compressed, a hysteresis is observed to open up. The magnitude of this anomalous Hall conductivity (when compressing the sample by ∼0.2 GPa) is estimated to be at least ∼ 10 Ω-1cm-1 at room temperature and ∼ 40 Ω-1cm-1 at 100 K, and it is demonstrated that the measured value originates in the antiferromagnetic structure, rather than in a stress-induced ferromagnetism.:1 Introduction 1 1.1 Overview of elemental properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1.1 Notes on Mn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1.2 Notes on Pt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.1.3 Notes on Sn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2 Magnetic Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.2.1 Zeeman interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.2.2 Magnetostatic energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.2.3 Magnetic anisotropy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.2.4 Magnetoelastic coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1.2.5 Exchange interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.2.6 Antisymmetric exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.3 Antiferro-, ferri- and helimagnets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1.4 Hall effect in magnetism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1.4.1 Geometrical phase in quantum mechanics . . . . . . . 14 In the context of the anomalous Hall effect . . . . . . 16 1.4.2 Complementary anomalous Hall theories . . . . . . . . 18 Skew scattering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Inelastic scattering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Side jump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Spin chirality mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 I The uniaxial ferromagnet Mn1.4PtSn 21 2 Mn1.4PtSn 23 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 2.2 Background physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 2.2.1 Topology in magnetism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 2.2.2 Domain theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Domain refinement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 2.2.3 Literature overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 SANS studies on bulk Mn1.4PtSn . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 2.3 Experimental methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 2.3.1 Sample preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 2.3.2 Lamellae fabrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 2.3.3 Magnetic Force Microscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Operating principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Specifications for our experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.4 Results and discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.4.1 Bulk samples characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Mn1.4Pt0.9Pd0.1Sn polycrystal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Mn1.4PtSn single crystal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Mn1.4PtSn single crystal in applied field . . . . . . . . 45 Mn1.4PtSn single crystal below TSR . . . . . . . . . . . 46 2.4.2 Lamellae characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Thickness dependence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Temperature dependence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Magnetic field dependence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 2.5 Conclusions and outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 II The non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn3Pt under strain 65 3 Mn3Pt 67 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 3.2 Background physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 3.2.1 Thin film study of Mn3Pt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 3.2.2 Our contribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 3.3 Experimental methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 3.4 Results and discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 3.4.1 Characterization of unstrained crystals . . . . . . . . . 75 3.4.2 Elastic response of Mn3Pt single crystals . . . . . . . . 79 Electrical transport response to strain . . . . . . . . . 81 3.4.3 Onset of AHE in single crystals under uniaxial pressure 84 Sample III4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Sample IV1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Sample IV2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 3.4.4 Temperature dependence of the AHE . . . . . . . . . . 94 3.4.5 Elastic limit of Mn3Pt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 3.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 A On Mn3Pt resistivity 101 B On Mn3Pt sample mounting 103