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Coexisting first- and second-order electronic phase transitions in a correlated oxide

Nature Physics volume 14, pages 1056–1061 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

The explanation and control of phase transitions remain cornerstones of contemporary physics. Landau provided an invaluable insight into the thermodynamics of complex systems by formulating their phase transitions in terms of an order parameter. Within this formulation, continuous evolution of the order parameter away from zero classifies the phase transition as second-order, whereas a discontinuous change signals a first-order transition. Here we show that the temperature-tuned insulator–metal transition in the prototypical correlated electron system NdNiO3 defies this established binary classification. By harnessing a nanoscale optical probe of the local electronic conductivity, we reveal two physically distinct yet concurrent phase transitions in epitaxial NdNiO3 films. Whereas the sample bulk exhibits a first-order transition between metal and insulator phases, we resolve anomalous nanoscale domain walls in the insulating state that undergo a distinctly continuous insulator–metal transition, with hallmarks of second-order behaviour. We ascribe these domain walls to boundaries between antiferromagnetically ordered domains within the charge ordered bulk. The close correspondence of these observations to predictions from a Landau theory of coupled charge and magnetic orders highlights the importance of coupled order parameters in driving the complex phase transition in NdNiO3.

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Fig. 1: Electronic phase separation and percolative phase transition in the NdNiO3 thin film revealed by nano-infrared imaging.
Fig. 2: Histogram representation of the percolative transition in NdNiO3 and Ising analysis.
Fig. 3: Metallic domain walls across the insulator–metal transition.
Fig. 4: Nano-infrared contrast across metal–insulator boundaries.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by ARO grant W911NF-17-1-0543. Development of cryogenic nano-optical instrumentation is supported by DE-SC0018218 and DE-SC-0012375. D.N.B. is in receipt of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s EPiQS Initiative investigator Grant GBMF4533. E.W.C. and Y.W. acknowledge support from NSF DMR-1508236 and Dept. of Education grant no. P116F140459. Financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Grant No. SFB/TRR80 G1 is acknowledged by M.H., M.B., G.C., G.L., P.R., M.M., E.B. and B.K.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: K.W. Post, A.S. McLeod.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    K. W. Post, A. S. McLeod, A. Charnukha, G. X. Ni & D. N. Basov

  2. Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    A. S. McLeod, A. Pasupathy & D. N. Basov

  3. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany

    M. Hepting, M. Bluschke, G. Cristiani, G. Logvenov, Padma Radhakrishnan, M. Minola, A. V. Boris, E. Benckiser & B. Keimer

  4. Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Wilhelm-Conrad-Röntgen-Campus BESSY II, Berlin, Germany

    M. Bluschke

  5. Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Yifan Wang & E. W. Carlson

  6. Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA

    K. A. Dahmen

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Contributions

K.W.P., A.S.M and D.N.B. conceived of and conducted the nano-IR experiments, analysed the data, and composed the article. A.C., G.X.N. and A.P. assisted with nano-IR measurements. M.H., M.B., G.C., G.L., P.R., M.M., A.V.B., E.B. and B.K. grew the NdNiO3 film and conducted the XRD and transport measurements. Y.F.W., K.A.D. and E.W.C. performed theoretical studies to interpret domain morphology data in the context of Ising models and Landau theory.

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Correspondence to K. W. Post.

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Supplementary Information, Supplementary Figures S1–S16, Supplementary References 1–36

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Post, K.W., McLeod, A.S., Hepting, M. et al. Coexisting first- and second-order electronic phase transitions in a correlated oxide. Nature Phys 14, 1056–1061 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0201-1

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