2014/04/09 by S. J. Allen, Allen, S. James, Adam J. Hauser +22
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides #FOS: Physical sciences #Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1404.2544
5 figures, 22 pages
arxiv created 2014/04/09 · openalex publication_date 2014/04/09 · arxiv updated 2014/04/10 · openalex created_date 2022/10/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report on tunneling measurements that reveal for the first time the evolution of the quasi-particle state density across the bandwidth controlled Mott metal to insulator transition in the rare earth perovskite nickelates. In this, a canonical class of transition metal oxides, we study in particular two materials close to the T=0 metal-insulator transition: NdNiO3 , an antiferromagnetic insulator, and LaNiO3, a correlated metal. We measure a sharp gap in NdNiO3, which has an insulating ground state, of ~ 30 meV. Remarkably, metallic LaNiO3 exhibits a pseudogap of the same order that presages the metal insulator transition. The smallness of both the gap and pseudogap suggests they arise from a common origin: proximity to a quantum critical point at or near the T=0 metal-insulator transition. It also supports theoretical models of the quantum phase transition in terms of spin and charge instabilities of an itinerant Fermi surface.