Possible strain induced Mott gap collapse in 1T-TaS${}_2$

Abstract

Tuning the electronic properties of a matter is of fundamental interest in scientific research as well as in applications. Recently, the Mott insulator-metal transition has been reported in a pristine layered transition metal dichalcogenides 1T-TaS${}_2$, with the transition triggered by an optical excitation, a gate controlled intercalation, or a voltage pulse. However, the sudden insulator-metal transition hinders an exploration of how the transition evolves. Here, we report the strain as a possible new tuning parameter to induce Mott gap collapse in 1T-TaS${}_2$. In a strain-rich area, we find a mosaic state with distinct electronic density of states within different domains. In a corrugated surface, we further observe and analyze a smooth evolution from a Mott gap state to a metallic state. Our results shed new lights on the understanding of the insulator-metal transition and promote a controllable strain engineering on the design of switching devices in the future.

16 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Enhanced anisotropic superconductivity in the topological nodal-line semimetal InxTaS2
• Doublon-like excitations and their phononic coupling in a Mott charge-density-wave system
• Observation and manipulation of a phase separated state in a charge density wave material
• Hidden electronic phase in strained few-layer 1T-TaS2