Spatially-resolved electronic structure of stripe domains in IrTe$_2$ through electronic structure microscopy

TL;DR

This study uses advanced spatially-resolved photoemission techniques to investigate the electronic structure of stripe domains in IrTe$_2$, revealing symmetry-breaking and phase transition-related inhomogeneity.

Contribution

It demonstrates the application of NanoARPES and MicroARPES to directly observe spatial electronic structure variations in IrTe$_2$'s stripe phase.

Findings

Electronic structure shows two-fold symmetry in stripe domains.

Inhomogeneity disappears across the phase transition.

Electronic phase with broken symmetry is linked to the stripe phase.

Abstract

Phase separation in the nanometer- to micrometer-scale is characteristic for correlated materials, for example, high temperature superconductors, colossal magnetoresistance manganites, Mott insulators, etc. Resolving the electronic structure with spatially-resolved information is critical for revealing the fundamental physics of such inhomogeneous systems yet this is challenging experimentally. Here by using nanometer- and micrometer-spot angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopies (NanoARPES and MicroARPES), we reveal the spatially-resolved electronic structure in the stripe phase of IrTe$_2$. Each separated domain shows two-fold symmetric electronic structure with the mirror axis aligned along 3 equivalent directions, and 6$\times$1 replicas are clearly identified. Moreover, such electronic structure inhomogeneity disappears across the stripe phase transition, suggesting that electronic phase with broken symmetry induced by the 6$\times$1 modulation is directly related to the stripe phase transition of IrTe$_2$. Our work demonstrates the capability of NanoARPES and MicroARPES in elucidating the fundamental physics of phase-separated materials.