Nature Communications (Jun 2024)

Hidden transport phenomena in an ultraclean correlated metal

  • Matthew Brahlek,
  • Joseph D. Roth,
  • Lei Zhang,
  • Megan Briggeman,
  • Patrick Irvin,
  • Jason Lapano,
  • Jeremy Levy,
  • Turan Birol,
  • Roman Engel-Herbert

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48043-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

Read online

Abstract Advancements in materials synthesis have been key to unveil the quantum nature of electronic properties in solids by providing experimental reference points for a correct theoretical description. Here, we report hidden transport phenomena emerging in the ultraclean limit of the archetypical correlated electron system SrVO3. The low temperature, low magnetic field transport was found to be dominated by anisotropic scattering, whereas, at high temperature, we find a yet undiscovered phase that exhibits clear deviations from the expected Landau Fermi liquid, which is reminiscent of strange-metal physics in materials on the verge of a Mott transition. Further, the high sample purity enabled accessing the high magnetic field transport regime at low temperature, which revealed an anomalously high Hall coefficient. Taken with the strong anisotropic scattering, this presents a more complex picture of SrVO3 that deviates from a simple Landau Fermi liquid. These hidden transport anomalies observed in the ultraclean limit prompt a theoretical reexamination of this canonical correlated electron system beyond the Landau Fermi liquid paradigm, and more generally serves as an experimental basis to refine theoretical methods to capture such nontrivial experimental consequences emerging in correlated electron systems.