Abstract

Using piezoelectric-based apparatus and specialised sample mounting, we have developed the capability to compress samples uniaxially by up to ~1%, while maintaining high strain homogeneity and precise in situ tunability. Unlike hydrostatic pressure, uniaxial pressure can be used to lift native lattice symmetries in a tunable, reversible way. In this talk, I will discuss application of this technique to the magnetic compounds Sr3Ru2O7, CeAuSb2, and PdCrO2. Sr3Ru2O7 shows field-induced magnetic order, that appears to consist of perpendicular spin density waves whose relative amplitude can be tuned through uniaxial pressure. The heavy-fermion antiferromagnet CeAuSb2 shows a similar strain-temperature phase diagram to Sr3Ru2O7, but arguably with much stronger effects from local behavior. Finally, the magnetic order of the triangular compound PdCrO2, which on the unstrained lattice is the 120° antiferromagnetic order seen when Heisenberg spins interact antiferromagnetically on a triangular lattice, appears to be substantially altered by lifting the native triangular lattice symmetry.