Mott Physics near the Insulator-To-Metal Transition in ${\mathrm{NdNiO}}_{3}$

Mott Physics near the Insulator-To-Metal Transition in ${NdNiO}_{3}$

M. K. Stewart, Jian Liu, M. Kareev, J. Chakhalian, and D. N. Basov

Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 176401 – Published 17 October 2011

Abstract

An optical study of ${NdNiO}_{3}$ ultrathin films with insulating and metallic ground states reveals new aspects of the insulator-to-metal transition that point to Mott physics as the driving force. In contrast with the behavior of charge-ordered systems, we find that the emergence of the Drude resonance across the transition is linked to a spectral weight transfer over an energy range of the order of the Coulomb repulsion $U$ , as the energy gap is filled with states instead of closing continuously.

Received 18 April 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.176401

Authors & Affiliations

M. K. Stewart^1,*, Jian Liu^2,3, M. Kareev², J. Chakhalian², and D. N. Basov¹

¹Department of Physics, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
²Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA
³Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA