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

Abstract

Nucleation processes of mixed-phase states are an intrinsic characteristic of first-order phase transitions, typically related to local symmetry breaking. Direct observation of emerging mixed-phase regions in materials showing a first-order metal-insulator transition (MIT) offers unique opportunities to uncover their driving mechanism. Using photoemission electron microscopy, we image the nanoscale formation and growth of insulating domains across the temperature-driven MIT in NdNiO3 epitaxial thin films. Heteroepitaxy is found to strongly determine the nanoscale nature of the phase transition, inducing preferential formation of striped domains along the terraces of atomically flat stepped surfaces. We show that the distribution of transition temperatures is an intrinsic local property, set by surface morphology and stable across multiple temperature cycles. Our data provides new insights into the MIT of heteroepitaxial nickelates and points to a rich, nanoscale phenomenology in this strongly correlated material.

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• Moiré Engineering of Electronic Phenomena in Correlated Oxides
• Complex magnetic order in nickelate slabs
• Ramp Reversal Memory and Phase-Boundary Scarring in Transition Metal Oxides
• Persistence of Island Arrangements During Layer-by-Layer Growth Revealed Using Coherent X-rays
• Scale-invariant magnetic textures in the strongly correlated oxide NdNiO${}_3$
• From hidden metal-insulator transition to Planckian-like dissipation by tuning disorder in a nickelate
• Magnetic and electronic properties of Eu${}_5$In${}_2$Sb${}_6$
• Role of local temperature in the current-driven metal-insulator transition of Ca2RuO4
• Control of the metal-insulator transition in NdNiO${}_3$ thin films through the interplay between structural and electronic properties
• Imaging antiferromagnetic domain fluctuations and the effect of atomic-scale disorder in a doped spin-orbit Mott insulator
• Non-universal current flow near the metal-insulator transition in an oxide interface
• Direct Visualization of Spatial inhomogeneity of Spin Stripes Order in La1.72Sr0.28NiO4
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• Evolution of the metallic state of LaNiO${}_3$/LaAlO${}_3$ superlattices measured by ${}^8$Li $\beta$-detected NMR
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• Cell dynamics simulations of coupled charge and magnetic phase transformation in correlated oxides
• Disentangling transport mechanisms in a correlated oxide by photoinduced charge injection
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• Connecting Complex Electronic Pattern Formation to Critical Exponents
• Elastic stripes formation at electronic transitions
• Observation of microscopic domain effects in the metal-insulator transition of thin-film NdNiO${}_3$