Striped nanoscale phase separation at the metal–insulator transition of heteroepitaxial nickelates

Mattoni, Giordano; Zubko, Pavlo; Maccherozzi, F.; Torren, Alexander J. H. van der; Boltje, D.B.; Hadjimichael, Marios; Manca, Nicola; Catalano, Sara; Gibert, Marta; Liu, Y.; Aarts, J.; Triscone, Jean‐Marc; Dhesi, S. S.; Caviglia, Andrea D.

doi:10.1038/ncomms13141

Cited by 68 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…[24,38,39] The width of the scarred phaseboundary must be smaller than the size of the phase-separated regions, which may be a number of nanometers in our TMOs. [8,11] In principle the scarred phase boundaries may be only a few unit-cells wide. This can explain the lack of interference we find in the RRM when several TH are set simultaneously.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…[6] In many thin film TMOs which exhibit a temperature (T)-driven phase transition, complexity is manifest through the coexistence of multiple phases where a single phase is expected, [7][8][9][10][11] providing the setting required for emergent phenomena to develop. [1] An intriguing feature found in many of the systems that exhibit the aforementioned phenomena, is the appearance of internal memory, where the system's properties (e.g.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Ramp‐Reversal Memory and Phase‐Boundary Scarring in Transition Metal Oxides

et al. 2017

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Transition metal oxides (TMOs) are complex electronic systems which exhibit a multitude of collective phenomena. Two archetypal examples are VO2 and NdNiO3, which undergo a metal-insulator phase-transition (MIT), the origin of which is still under debate. Here we report the discovery of a memory effect in both systems, manifest through an increase of resistance at a specific temperature, which is set by reversing the temperature-ramp from heating to cooling during the MIT. The characteristics of this ramp-reversal memory effect do not coincide with any previously reported history or memory effects in manganites, electronglass or magnetic systems. From a broad range of experimental features, supported by theoretical modelling, we find that the main ingredients for the effect to arise are the spatial Submitted to 22222222224222 phase-separation of metallic and insulating regions during the MIT and the coupling of lattice strain to the local critical temperature of the phase transition. We conclude that the emergent memory effect originates from phase boundaries at the reversal-temperature leaving "scars" in the underlying lattice structure, giving rise to a local increase in the transition temperature.The universality and robustness of the effect shed new light on the MIT in complex oxides.TMOs are a hallmark example of complex electron systems; the competition between charge, spin, strain, lattice, oxidation and other degrees of freedom, having similar energy scales, give rise to numerous collective phenomena [1][2][3] including superconductivity, [4] colossal magnetoresistance [5] and metal-insulator transitions (MIT). [6] In many thin film TMOs which exhibit a temperature (T)-driven phase transition, complexity is manifest through the coexistence of multiple phases where a single phase is expected, [7][8][9][10][11] providing the setting required for emergent phenomena to develop.[1]An intriguing feature found in many of the systems that exhibit the aforementioned phenomena, is the appearance of internal memory, where the system's properties (e.g. resistance or magnetization) depend on the measurement history. Such memory effects appear in various forms and measurement settings, having very different microscopic origins, many of which are still poorly understood. Examples include dynamical memory and slow relaxation in electron-glass systems such as amorphous oxides, [12,13] spatially phase-separated memory in colossal-magnetoresistance manganites, [14] shape-memory in martensitic alloys, [15] and more. [16,17] Here we report the appearance of an unexpected memory effect within the MIT in two prototypical examples of complex TMOs, namely VO2 and NdNiO3 (NNO). The characteristics of the observed effect differ substantially from those of previously reported memory effects, indicating a different microscopic origin.VO2 and NNO both exhibit an MIT, however its features and microscopic origin are quite different. In VO2 the MIT occurs above room temperature, ~340 K, and is accompanied by a structural transition from...

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Ramp‐Reversal Memory and Phase‐Boundary Scarring in Transition Metal Oxides

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“…Their striped shape is determined by the step and terrace surface morphology imposed by the substrate, as confirmed by topographic images acquired by atomic force microscopy [30]. As discussed in our previous work [29], the PEEM technique probes only the phase-separation occurring on the material surface, which typically has a slightly different transition temperature with respect to the bulk.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Our imaging contrast is based on the different Ni L 3 x-ray absorption in the metallic and insulating phases, which in this case peak at 852.7 and 853.4 eV, respectively, as detailed in Ref. [29]. The sample is mounted on a cold finger, allowing controlled heating and cooling between 130 and 300 K. At 200 K, above the MIT, we find a homogeneous metallic phase [ Fig.…”

Section: A Light Effects On the Mitmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only at high excitation intensities an energy redistribution to the lattice becomes apparent. Since heteroepitaxial nickelates show rich nanoscale physics, including phase separation at the MIT, there is an increasing interest to explore the effects of light excitation on the domain structure [27][28][29]. Furthermore, ultrashort light pulses offer the unique possibility of providing energy with high intensity to localised regions of a material, allowing us to engineer the physical properties at the local scale.…”

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Light control of the nanoscale phase separation in heteroepitaxial nickelates

Mattoni

Manca

Hadjimichael

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. Materials

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Strongly correlated materials show unique solid-state phase transitions with rich nanoscale phenomenology that can be controlled by external stimuli. Particularly interesting is the case of light-matter interaction in the proximity of the metal-insulator transition of heteroepitaxial nickelates. In this work, we use near-infrared laser light in the high-intensity excitation regime to manipulate the nanoscale phase separation in NdNiO 3 . By tuning the laser intensity, we can reproducibly set the coverage of insulating nanodomains, which we image by photoemission electron microscopy, thus semipermanently configuring the material state. With the aid of transport measurements and finite element simulations, we identify two different timescales of thermal dynamics in the light-matter interaction: a steady-state and a fast transient local heating. These results open interesting perspectives for locally manipulating and reconfiguring electronic order at the nanoscale by optical means.

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Electronic Coupling of Metal‐to‐Insulator Transitions in Nickelate‐Based Heterostructures

Varbaro

Mundet

Domínguez

et al. 2023

Adv Elect Materials

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In rare earth nickelates, the metal‐to‐insulator transition observed as a function of temperature can be described using an electronic and a structural order parameter. The electronic one is linked to the electronic disproportionation observed below the transition temperature and the structural one characterizes the breathing mode that develops in the low temperature phase. Here SmNiO3/NdNiO3 superlattices are grown with insulating LaAlO3 spacer layers to study the unusual coupling of metal‐to‐ insulator transitions observed at SmNiO3/NdNiO3 interfaces and determine the role of the two order parameters. Temperature‐dependent transport measurements reveal that a single unit cell of LaAlO3 inserted between SmNiO3 and NdNiO3 leads to a complete decoupling of the metal‐to‐insulator transitions suggesting that the order parameter controlling the coupling is the electronic one.

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Striped nanoscale phase separation at the metal–insulator transition of heteroepitaxial nickelates

Cited by 68 publications

References 39 publications

Ramp‐Reversal Memory and Phase‐Boundary Scarring in Transition Metal Oxides

Ramp‐Reversal Memory and Phase‐Boundary Scarring in Transition Metal Oxides

Light control of the nanoscale phase separation in heteroepitaxial nickelates

Electronic Coupling of Metal‐to‐Insulator Transitions in Nickelate‐Based Heterostructures

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