Because it can be applied in-situ in a continuous fashion, and can be tailored to preserve or break selected spatial symmetries, piezoelectric devices-based strain has lately emerged as a versatile tuning parameter of quantum materials. In this talk we will focus on utilizing anisotropic strain as a probe of otherwise elusive multipolar orders in solids. Using the adiabatic AC elastocaloric effect, a compact, thermodynamic strain-based experimental technique [1,2], we study the anisotropic strain effects on the f electron-based multipolar orders in two rare earth intermetallic systems DyB₂C₂ [3] and PrT₂Al₂₀ [4]. We demonstrate the elastocaloric effect as an incisive probe to characterize the evolution of phase transitions with strain, and combined with magnetic field can be used to probe both electric quadrupolar and magnetic octupolar orders and associated fluctuations.
 

[1] Ikeda et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 90, 083902 (2019)
[2] Li et al., Nature, 607, 276 (2022)
[3] Ye et al., arXiv/2211.12453
[4] Sorensen and Fisher, Phys. Rev. B, 103, 15106 (2021)