Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• McLeod, A. S.
• van Heumen, E.
• Ramirez, J. G.
• Wang, S.
• Saerbeck, T.
• Guenon, S.
• Goldflam, M.
• Anderegg, L.
• Kelly, P.
• Mueller, A.
• Liu, M. K.
• Schuller, Ivan K.
• Basov, D. N.

Titel

Nanotextured phase coexistence in the correlated insulator V2O3

Ist Teil von

• Nature physics, 2016-09, Vol.13 (1), p.80-86

Ort / Verlag

London: Nature Publishing Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The insulatormetal transition remains among the most studied phenomena in correlated electron physics. However, the spontaneous formation of spatial patterns amidst insulatormetal phase coexistence remains poorly explored on the mesoand nanoscales. Here we present real-space evolution of the insulatormetal transition in a V2O3 thin lm imaged at high spatial resolution by cryogenic near-eld infrared microscopy. We resolve spontaneously nanotextured coexistence of metal and correlated Mott insulator phases near the insulatormetal transition (160180 K) associated with percolation and an underlying structural phase transition. Augmented with macroscopic temperature-resolved X-ray diraction measurements of the same lm, a quantitative analysis of nano-infrared images acquired across the transition suggests decoupling of electronic and structural transformations. Persistent low-temperature metallicity is accompanied by unconventional critical behaviour, implicating the long-range Coulomb interaction as a driving force through the lms rst-order insulatormetal transition.