Abstract
We present a coordinated study of the paramagnetic-to-antiferromagnetic, rhombohedral-to-monoclinic, and metal-to-insulator transitions in thin-film specimens of the classic Mott insulator V2O3 using low-energy muon spin relaxation, X-ray diffraction, and nanoscale-resolved near-field infrared spectroscopic techniques. The measurements provide a detailed characterization of the thermal evolution of the magnetic, structural, and electronic phase transitions occurring in a wide temperature range, including quantitative measurements of the high- A nd low-temperature phase fractions for each transition. The results reveal a stable coexistence of the high- A nd low-temperature phases over a broad temperature range throughout the transition. Careful comparison of temperature dependence of the different measurements, calibrated by the resistance of the sample, demonstrates that the electronic, magnetic, and structural degrees of freedom remain tightly coupled to each other during the transition process. We also find evidence for antiferromagnetic fluctuations in the vicinity of the phase transition, highlighting the important role of the magnetic degree of freedom in the metal-insulator transition.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 235136 |
Journal | Physical Review B |
Volume | 100 |
Issue number | 23 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 23 2019 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This is a highly collaborative research effort. Experiments were designed jointly and the manuscript was written in multiple iterations by all coauthors. This work is based on experiments performed at the Swiss Muon Source SµS, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland. Synthesis, structure, and transport measurements were performed at UCSD (Y.K., I.V., and I.K.S) under Grant No. DE-FG02-87ER-45322. Work at Columbia University was supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) via Grant No. DMREF DMR-1436095, NSF Grant No. DMR-1105961, NSF Grant No. DMR-1610633, and the NSF PIRE program through Grant No. OISE-0968226, with additional support from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency Reimei Project and the Friends of Todai Foundation. B.A.F. acknowledges support from the NSF GRFP under Grant No. DGE-11-44155 and support from the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at Brigham Young Univeresity. A.S.M. and D.N.B. are supported by ARO Grant W911NF-17-1-0543. Development of nano-optical instrumentation at Columbia is supported by AFOSR FA9550-15-1-0478. Work at Kyoto University was supported by JSPS Core-to-Core Program (a) Advanced Research Networks.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Physical Society.