Atomic-scale imaging of emergent order at a magnetic field-induced Lifshitz transition.

Abstract

The phenomenology and radical changes seen in material properties traversing a quantum phase transition have captivated condensed matter research over the past decades. Strong electronic correlations lead to exotic electronic ground states, including magnetic order, nematicity, and unconventional superconductivity. Providing a microscopic model for these requires detailed knowledge of the electronic structure in the vicinity of the Fermi energy, promising a complete understanding of the physics of the quantum critical point. Here, we demonstrate such a measurement at the surface of Sr3Ru2O7. Our results show that, even in zero field, the electronic structure is strongly C2 symmetric and that a magnetic field drives a Lifshitz transition and induces a charge-stripe order. We track the changes of the electronic structure as a function of field via quasiparticle interference imaging at ultralow temperatures. Our results provide a complete microscopic picture of the field-induced changes of the electronic structure across the Lifshitz transition.