Investigating Quantum Materials with In-Situ Strain

Electronic material properties are closely linked to the properties of the underlying crystal lattice. For instance, ferroelectric materials break spatial inversion symmetry and ferromagnetic materials break time reversal symmetry. With strain, i.e., deformations of the crystal structure, we can deform the lattice and have large effects on the electronic behavior of materials. This coupling between the electronic behavior and strain can be probed with measurements of the elastoresistivity, i.e., the relation between strain a material experiences and the induced resistivity change. Recently it has been shown that <i>in-situ</i> tunable strain is an effective knob to drive a topological phase transition by tuning the band gap and forcing a band crossing in the transition metal pentatellurides, ZrTe₅ and HfTe₅. In this talk, I will show how strain can be used as a conjugate field for electronic order in the prototypical electron doped iron pnictide superconductor, Ba(Fe_1-xCo_x)₂As₂and as a tuning parameter for the topologically driven anomalous Hall effect in the Weyl semimetal Mn₃Sn. I will also discuss applications to 2D systems and preliminary <i>in-situ</i> strain measurements paired with large magnetic fields in the transition metal pentatellurides.