Mott insulator to metal transition driven by oxygen incorporation in epitaxial LaTiO3 films

Lanthanum titanate, LaTiO3, is an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator with a Ti 3d1 electronic configuration and exhibits an intriguing metallic state in its epitaxial film grown on the SrTiO3 substrate. Here, we explore the driving force of the Mott insulator to metal transition in LaTiO3 epitaxial fi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 2019-12, Vol.115 (26)
Main Authors: Zhang, T. T., Gu, C. Y., Mao, Z. W., Chen, X. F., Gu, Z. B., Wang, P., Nie, Y. F., Pan, X. Q.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antiferromagnetism
Applied physics
Compressive properties
Epitaxial growth
Film growth
Lanthanum
Molecular beam epitaxy
Strontium titanates
Substrates
Titanium
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Summary:Lanthanum titanate, LaTiO3, is an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator with a Ti 3d1 electronic configuration and exhibits an intriguing metallic state in its epitaxial film grown on the SrTiO3 substrate. Here, we explore the driving force of the Mott insulator to metal transition in LaTiO3 epitaxial films by a systematic study of the film growth conditions and biaxial strain using reactive molecular beam epitaxy. Within the achievable range (up to −2.4%) of the biaxial compressive strain in our study, we found that the oxygen incorporation plays a more crucial role than the biaxial epitaxial strain in the Mott insulator to metal transition in LaTiO3 films.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.5132568