Strain is powerful for discovery and manipulation of new phases of matter; however, elastic strains accessible to epitaxial films and bulk crystals are typically limited to small, uniform, and discrete values. In this talk I will describe our progress on synthesizing single crystalline membranes of Heusler compounds, which enable large continuously tunable strains and strain gradients via bending and rippling. This synthesis strategy borrows ideas from remote epitaxy and van der Waals epitaxy on graphene, and I will describe our current understanding of the growth mechanisms. I will then show how strain gradients transform rippled GdPtSb membranes from an antiferromagnet to a room temperature ferromagnet via flexomagnetic coupling, and how larger strain gradients induce flexomagnetism [5] and superconductivity in GdAuGe membranes. Finally, I will discuss new efforts on tuning ultrafast magnetism in membranes via combined strain and optical excitation. Our strained Heusler membranes offer a highly tunable platform for discovery of new topological, magnetic, and superconducting phases both in and out of equilibrium.
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