Model for strain-induced metal-insulator phase coexistence in colossal magnetoresistive perovskite manganites (invited)

K. H. Ahn, T. Lookman, A. R. Bishop

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

There is considerable evidence from new generations of high resolution microscopies and scattering techniques for intrinsically multiscale structures and dynamics in complex transition-metal oxides. In particular, the coexistence of submicrometer-size insulating and metallic domains in the same sample of perovskite manganites is believed to be crucial to the understanding of colossal magnetoresistance in these materials, and has been a puzzle to both theorists and experimentalists. In this work, we demonstrate, using an atomic-scale description of lattice distortions and long-range strains, that the presence of multiple local energy minimum states with different distortions provides a natural mechanism for such multiphase coexistence within the same material. The framework provides a basis for engineering nanoscale patterns of metallic and insulating phases and understanding other novel features observed in manganites, such as precursor short-range ordering and quasielastic scattering near the phase-transition temperature, hysteretic and glassy dynamics, metastability, and photoinduced insulator-metal transition.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number08A703
JournalJournal of Applied Physics
Volume99
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Model for strain-induced metal-insulator phase coexistence in colossal magnetoresistive perovskite manganites (invited)'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this