npj Quantum Materials (May 2021)

Nano-imaging of strain-tuned stripe textures in a Mott crystal

  • A. S. McLeod,
  • A. Wieteska,
  • G. Chiriaco,
  • B. Foutty,
  • Y. Wang,
  • Y. Yuan,
  • F. Xue,
  • V. Gopalan,
  • L. Q. Chen,
  • Z. Q. Mao,
  • A. J. Millis,
  • A. N. Pasupathy,
  • D. N. Basov

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41535-021-00339-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract The 4d transition metal perovskites Can+1RunO3n+1 have attracted interest for their strongly interacting electronic phases showing pronounced sensitivity to controllable stimuli like strain, temperature, and even electrical current. Through multi-messenger low-temperature nano-imaging, we reveal a spontaneous striped texture of coexisting insulating and metallic domains in single crystals of the bilayer ruthenate Ca3(TixRu1-x)2O7 across its first-order Mott transition at $$T \approx 95$$ T ≈ 95 K. We image on-demand anisotropic nucleation and growth of these domains under in situ applied uniaxial strain rationalized through control of a spontaneous Jahn-Teller distortion. Our scanning nano-susceptibility imaging resolves the detailed susceptibility of coexisting phases to strain and temperature at the transition threshold. Comparing these nano-imaging results to bulk-sensitive elastoresistance measurements, we uncover an emergent “domain susceptibility” sensitive to both the volumetric phase fractions and elasticity of the self-organized domain lattice. Our combined susceptibility probes afford nano-scale insights into strain-mediated control over the insulator-metal transition in 4d transition metal oxides.