Abstract
Phase coexistence phenomena have been intensively studied in strongly correlated materials where several ordered states simultaneously occur or compete. Material properties critically depend on external parameters and boundary conditions, where tiny changes result in qualitatively different ground states. However, up to date, phase coexistence phenomena have exclusively been reported for complex compounds composed of multiple elements. Here we show that charge- and magnetically ordered states coexist in double-layer Fe/Rh(001). Scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy measurements reveal periodic charge-order stripes below a temperature of 130 K. Close to liquid helium temperature, they are superimposed by ferromagnetic domains as observed by spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscopy. Temperature-dependent measurements reveal a pronounced cross-talk between charge and spin order at the ferromagnetic ordering temperature about 70 K, which is successfully modelled within an effective Ginzburg–Landau ansatz including sixth-order terms. Our results show that subtle balance between structural modifications can lead to competing ordering phenomena.
Highlights
Phase coexistence phenomena have been intensively studied in strongly correlated materials where several ordered states simultaneously occur or compete
The magnetism of ultra-thin pseudomorphic Fe films on face-centre-cubic Rh(001), which has been subject of several investigations[23,24,25,26,27,28], appears to be strongly influenced by the competition between ferromagnetic order in bcc a- and antiferromagnetism in fcc g-Fe, as well as electronic hybridization of the film’s 3d states with the substrate’s 4d states[25]
Our experiments show that a sample system that is conceptually as simple as the pseudomorphic Fe double layer on Rh(001) may possess different ordering phenomena
Summary
Phase coexistence phenomena have been intensively studied in strongly correlated materials where several ordered states simultaneously occur or compete. In the recent past, competing order phenomena such as the interplay between spin and charge order in copper- and ironbased superconductors[1,2,3], the magnetic modulation-induced emergence of spontaneous polarization in multiferroics[4,5,6,7] or the coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity at the interface of oxide heterostructures[8,9,10] have intensively been investigated In these materials, subtle changes of the chemical composition or external stimuli may eventually lead to non-trivial emergent excitations at quantum critical points between lowest energy states[11]. It has been speculated that the competition between AFM and ferromagnetic order in tetragonally distorted films may lead to low-energy excitations or competing phase transitions[25]
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