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Limitations of probing field-induced response with STM
- Matters Arising
- Published: 25 February 2026
Limitations of probing field-induced response with STM
- Christopher Candelora1 &
- Ilija Zeljkovic
orcid.org/0000-0001-9966-21401
Nature
650, E15–E20 (2026)Cite this article
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- Electronic properties and materials
- Structure of solids and liquids
Matters Arising to this article was published on 25 February 2026
The Original Article was published on 12 June 2024
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arising from: Y. Xing et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07519-5 (2024).
The kagome superconductors AV3Sb5 (where A = K, Cs, Rb) exhibit intertwined density waves, unconventional superconductivity and time-reversal symmetry breaking without spin magnetism1,2, with scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) studies reporting3,4, albeit not universally5,6, magnetic-field-dependent changes in the apparent chirality of the 2 × 2 charge density wave (CDW). Related to this, Xing et al.7 investigated the effects of magnetic and electric fields on the 2 × 2 CDW state and the lattice structure of kagome superconductor RbV3Sb5, reporting a field-induced ~1% change in the in-plane lattice constants, concomitant with the CDW intensity modification, controlled by the field direction. Here we demonstrate how the apparent magnetic field induced lattice and CDW intensity change can be explained as a consequence of two independent experimental artifacts: a reconfiguration of atoms at the STM tip apex that alters the amplitudes of CDW modulations, and piezo creep, hysteresis and thermal drift, which artificially distort STM topographs. We argue that the reported piezomagnetism could be attributed to experimental artifacts rather than an intrinsic magnetic-field-induced change of the sample.
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Fig. 1: The effect of tip changes on the apparent CDW intensities.
Fig. 2: The effects of piezo creep and thermal drift on measuring lattice constants.
References
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Candelora, C. et al. Quantifying magnetic field driven lattice distortions in kagome metals at the femtometer scale using scanning tunneling microscopy. Phys. Rev. B 109, 155121 (2024).
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