This book reports on the development and application of a new uniaxial pressure apparatus that is currently generating considerable interest in the field of materials physics. The author provides practical guidelines for performing such experiments, backed up by finite element simulations. Subsequently, the book reports on two uses of the device. In the first, high pressures are used to tune to a Van Hove singularity in Sr2RuO4, while the effects on the unconventional superconductivity and the normal state properties are investigated. In the second experiment, precise and continuous strain control is used to probe symmetry breaking and novel phase formation in the vicinity of a quantum critical point in Sr3Ru2O7.

Nominated as an outstanding Ph.D thesis by the University of St. Andrews, Scotland and Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Germany Provides a didactic and practical introduction to a piezoelectric-based uniaxial pressure device in a level of detail not available in research papers Describes an example of using high uniaxial pressures as a clean tuning method to produce a Van Hove singularity Highlights the use of precise and continuous strain control as a test of symmetry breaking

Inhalt
Introduction.- Uniaxial Stress Technique.- The Physics of Sr2RuO4 Approaching a Van Hove Singularity.- Quantum Criticality and Metamagnetism of Strained Sr3Ru2O7.- Conclusions and Outlook.