Preparation of magnetic tips for spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy on Fe_(1-y)Te

摘要

The interplay of electronic nematic modulations, magnetic order, superconductivity, and structural distortions in strongly correlated electron materials calls for methods which allow characterizing them simultaneously, to allow establishing directly the relationship between these different phenomena. Spin-polarized STM enables studying both electronic excitations as well as magnetic structure in the same measurement at the atomic scale. Here we demonstrate preparation of magnetic tips, both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic, on single crystals of FeTe. This opens up preparation of spin-polarized tips without the need for sophisticated ultrahigh-vacuum preparation.