Scanning probe microscopy articles within Nature Physics

Featured

• Article | 13 March 2024

  Manipulation of chiral interface states in a moiré quantum anomalous Hall insulator

  The local electronic structure of interface states between topologically distinct domains is imaged and controlled, allowing visualization of the interplay between strong interactions and non-trivial topology.

  • Canxun Zhang
  • , Tiancong Zhu
  •  & Michael F. Crommie

• Article | 30 March 2023

  Thermalization and dynamics of high-energy quasiparticles in a superconducting nanowire

  The performance of superconducting devices is affected by the generation and relaxation of excitations called quasiparticles. A scanning tunnelling microscope can controllably inject quasiparticles so their dynamics can be better understood.

  • T. Jalabert
  • , E. F. C. Driessen
  •  & C. Chapelier

• Letter
  09 February 2023 | Open Access

  Imaging ferroelectric domains with a single-spin scanning quantum sensor

  A scanning nitrogen-vacancy microscope is used to image ferroelectric domains in piezoelectric and improper ferroelectric samples with high sensitivity. The technique relies on the nitrogen-vacancy’s Stark shift produced by the samples’ electric field.

  • William S. Huxter
  • , Martin F. Sarott
  •  & Christian L. Degen

• Letter | 25 August 2022

  Coherence enhancement of solid-state qubits by local manipulation of the electron spin bath

  Nitrogen vacancy centres close to the surface of diamonds are a key component of quantum sensing technologies. Using an atomic force microscope to manipulate the surface electrostatic environment can significantly improve the sensing performance.

  • Wentian Zheng
  • , Ke Bian
  •  & Ying Jiang

• Letter | 16 August 2021

  Imaging local discharge cascades for correlated electrons in WS₂/WSe₂ moiré superlattices

  The Hubbard model describes many fascinating phenomena, but relating it to complicated quantum materials is difficult. Now, atomic-resolution measurements can estimate the interaction parameters that appear in the model for real materials.

  • Hongyuan Li
  • , Shaowei Li
  •  & Feng Wang

• Article | 04 January 2021

  Experimental identification of two distinct skyrmion collapse mechanisms

  In principle skyrmions are topologically protected, but the crystal lattice interferes with this protection so that they should be unstable to switching of their winding number. Here this process is understood via scanning tunnelling microscopy.

  • Florian Muckel
  • , Stephan von Malottki
  •  & Markus Morgenstern

• Letter | 30 March 2020

  Nematic transitions in iron pnictide superconductors imaged with a quantum gas

  A trapped quantum gas and optical microscopy are simultaneously employed to measure the nematicity of an iron-based superconductor. This demonstrates the potential of quantum gases to be used for scanning microscopy of quantum materials.

  • Fan Yang
  • , Stephen F. Taylor
  •  & Benjamin L. Lev

• News & Views | 22 April 2019

  Putting the gap on the map

  The measurement of the charge density wave energy gap in high-temperature superconducting cuprates uncovers new links between competing states.

  • Jiarui Li
  •  & Riccardo Comin

• Research Highlight | 04 June 2018

  Function at the junction

  • Jan Philip Kraack

• Letter | 23 October 2017

  Sign reversal of the order parameter in (Li_1−xFe_x)OHFe_1−yZn_ySe

  A scanning tunnelling microscopy study of an intercalated iron selenide-based superconductor reveals a sign change in its superconducting gap function, providing indirect evidence for the origin of the pairing mechanism in this system.

  • Zengyi Du
  • , Xiong Yang
  •  & Hai-Hu Wen

• Article | 20 February 2017

  Ultrafast terahertz control of extreme tunnel currents through single atoms on a silicon surface

  Controlling electric currents on the atomic scale requires being able to handle the ultrafast timescales involved. Now, experiments have demonstrated the feasibility of terahertz scanning tunnelling microscopy as a method for doing just that.

  • Vedran Jelic
  • , Krzysztof Iwaszczuk
  •  & Frank A. Hegmann

• Article | 12 September 2016

  Nanotextured phase coexistence in the correlated insulator V₂O₃

  A near-field optical microscopy study provides nanoscale insight into an insulator-to-metal transition and the interplay with a neighbouring structural phase transition in a prototypical correlated electron material.

  • A. S. McLeod
  • , E. van Heumen
  •  & D. N. Basov

• News & Views | 13 June 2016

  Heavy going

  Chiral symmetry breaking is imaged in graphene which, through a mechanism analogous to mass generation in quantum electrodynamics, could provide a means for making it semiconducting.

  • Christopher Mudry

• News & Views | 06 June 2016

  Ready for a close-up

  Rashba spin–orbit coupling has already provided fertile physics and applications in spintronics but real-space imaging shows how the strength of this interaction varies on the nanoscale.

  • Junsaku Nitta

• News & Views | 16 February 2015

  Protons in concert

  The transfer of protons across a high barrier only occasionally occurs through quantum-mechanical tunnelling. Low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy shows concerted tunnelling of four protons within chiral cyclic water tetramers supported on an inert surface.

  • Christof Drechsel-Grau
  •  & Dominik Marx

• Letter | 16 February 2015

  Direct visualization of concerted proton tunnelling in a water nanocluster

  Many-body tunnelling is a complex but important phenomenon. Scanning tunnelling microscopy experiments with a Cl-terminated tip on a cyclic cluster of hydrogen-bonded water molecules now demonstrate controllable concerted tunnelling of four protons.

  • Xiangzhi Meng
  • , Jing Guo
  •  & Ying Jiang

• Research Highlights | 28 November 2014

  Edgy magnetism

  • Bart Verberck

• Letter | 10 August 2014

  Nonlinear inelastic electron scattering revealed by plasmon-enhanced electron energy-loss spectroscopy

  Electron energy-loss spectroscopy uses inelastically scattered electrons to provide information about a material’s chemical composition. It is now shown that localized plasmonic excitations can lead to nonlinear scattering, significantly enhancing the signals arising from inelastic electrons.

  • Chun Kai Xu
  • , Wen Jie Liu
  •  & Xiang Jun Chen

• News & Views | 23 December 2013

  Chaotic memory

  Controlled switching of interacting ferroelectric surface domains leads to a variety of regular and chaotic patterns, and could provide a physical platform for performing calculations.

  • Alain Pignolet

• Article | 17 November 2013

  Intermittency, quasiperiodicity and chaos in probe-induced ferroelectric domain switching

  Ferroelectric domain switching on the surface of a lithium niobate thin film can be induced by the tip of a scanning probe microscope, and gives rise to both regular and chaotic spatiotemporal patterns. Moreover, the long-range interactions that govern these phenomena can be tuned by varying temperature, humidity, domain spacing and tip bias.

  • A. V. Ievlev
  • , S. Jesse
  •  & S. V. Kalinin

• News & Views | 01 August 2013

  On thin ice

  • Bart Verberck

• News & Views | 14 July 2013

  How the heaviest electrons pair up

  Scanning tunnelling spectroscopy in a heavy-fermion superconductor provides direct access to the anisotropy of the pairing gap, opening a window for investigating the nature of the pairing interaction.

  • Louis Taillefer