Subscripts and supercripts in heatmap axis labels

Hi, I am having trouble adding subscripts and supercripts to the axis labels on my heatmap. At the moment my code looks like this:

heatmap(string(round(log10(range_par_N),2)),string(round(log10(range_par_C2),2)),heatmap_data_Nconc,'CellLabelColor','none','GridVisible','off');
colormap(parula);
xlabel('log K^{N}_{N}');
ylabel('log K^N _C2');

But the axis labels look like this:

I have also tried doing:

heatmap(string(round(log10(range_par_N),2)),string(round(log10(range_par_C2),2)),heatmap_data_Nconc,'CellLabelColor','none','GridVisible','off');
colormap(parula);
h = xlabel('log K^{N}_{N}');
set(h,'Interpreter','tex');

But I get the following error:

Error using matlab.graphics.chart.Chart/xlabel

Output arguments are not supported when using xlabel with heatmap.

Error in xlabel (line 32)

hh = xlabel(ax,args{:});

The subscript and supercript work fine in the 'tex' style for all my other plots, but doesn't work for heatmap. Is it just that these are not suported for heatmaps?

I am using version R2018b.

I am new at using Matlab, so apologies if I have missed something obvious.

Answer 1

[Raquel Nunes Palmeira]

I haven't really found the answer for this through using 'heatmap', but a colleague told me that using 'surf' with the command view(0,90) gives an equivalent to heatmap, and this supports the subscripts and superscripts.

z = surf(round(log10(range_par_N),2),round(log10(range_par_C2),2),heatmap_data_div);
view(0,90);
d = colorbar;
z.EdgeColor = 'none';
xlabel('log K^{N}_{N}');
ylabel('log K_{C_2}^N');
d.Label.String = 'Number of protocell divisions per day at equilibrium';
d.Label.FontSize = 16;
set(gca,'FontSize',14);

Answer 2

[Carly Cocke]

You can edit Adam Danz's fix/get around of manipulating the interpreter property to fix the title text:

Here's the link to his answer: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/432786-how-can-i-italicize-the-label-of-a-heatmap

and here's the editted version of his code to apply to yours:

h.heatmap(string(round(log10(range_par_N),2)),string(round(log10(range_par_C2),2)),heatmap_data_Nconc,'CellLabelColor','none','GridVisible','off');
colormap(parula);
a2 = axes('Position', h.Position);               %new axis on top to add label's
a2.Color = 'none';               %new axis transparent
a2.YTick = [];                   %Remove ytick
a2.XTick = [];                   %Remove xtick
a2.YDir = 'Reverse';             %flip your y axis to correspond with heatmap's
xlabel('log K^{N}_{N}');         %you can use any commands under axes properties to edit the axes appearance 
ylabel('log K_{C_2}^N');

Answer 3

[Benjamin Kraus]

Starting in MATLAB R2023b, the HeatmapChart now has an Interpreter property.

h = heatmap(magic(4),'Interpreter','latex','CellLabelColor','none','GridVisible','off');
colormap(parula);
xlabel('$log K^{N}_{N}$');
ylabel('$log K^N_C2$');