Imaging antiferromagnetic domains of PdCrO₂

The layered antiferromagnet PdCrO₂ is an exceptionally pure system, providing an ideal platform for studying how magnetic frustration is relieved in a triangular lattice. Here we spatially resolve the antiferromagnetic domains of PdCrO₂ using a novel temperature-modulated birefringence imaging setup. The material undergoes a weakly first-order transition at the Néel temperature (38 K), forming three distinct types of antiferromagnetic domains that are oriented at 120 degrees from one other. The domain structure is observed to reorient after each cooling cycle (upon heating to sufficiently high temperatures), indicating that the domain walls are highly mobile under external perturbations. The effect of strain on the domain population and the phase transition will also be discussed.