Heterointerface engineered electronic and magnetic phases of NdNiO 3 thin films

Abstract

Mott physics is characterized by an interaction-driven metal-to-insulator transition in a partially filled band. In the resulting insulating state, antiferromagnetic orders of the local moments typically develop, but in rare situations no long-range magnetic order appears, even at zero temperature, rendering the system a quantum spin liquid. A fundamental and technologically critical question is whether one can tune the underlying energetic landscape to control both metal-to-insulator and Néel transitions, and even stabilize latent metastable phases, ideally on a platform suitable for applications. Here we demonstrate how to achieve this in ultrathin films of NdNiO 3 with various degrees of lattice mismatch, and report on the quantum critical behaviours not reported in the bulk by transport measurements and resonant X-ray spectroscopy/scattering. In particular, on the decay of the antiferromagnetic Mott insulating state into a non-Fermi liquid, we find evidence of a quantum metal-to-insulator transition that spans a non-magnetic insulating phase. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.