Non-universal current flow near the metal-insulator transition in an oxide interface

Eylon Persky, Naor Vardi, Ana Mafalda R.V.L. Monteiro, Thierry C. van Thiel, Hyeok Yoon, Yanwu Xie, Benoît Fauqué, Andrea D. Caviglia, Harold Y. Hwang, Kamran Behnia, Jonathan Ruhman, Beena Kalisky

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

In systems near phase transitions, macroscopic properties often follow algebraic scaling laws, determined by the dimensionality and the underlying symmetries of the system. The emergence of such universal scaling implies that microscopic details are irrelevant. Here, we locally investigate the scaling properties of the metal-insulator transition at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. We show that, by changing the dimensionality and the symmetries of the electronic system, coupling between structural and electronic properties prevents the universal behavior near the transition. By imaging the current flow in the system, we reveal that structural domain boundaries modify the filamentary flow close to the transition point, preventing a fractal with the expected universal dimension from forming.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3311
JournalNature Communications
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 3 Jun 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Funding

We thank Herb A. Fertig, Ganapathy Muthry, Efrat Shimshoni and Brian Skinner for fruitful discussions. E.P., N.V., and B.K. were supported by European Research Council Grant No. ERC-2019-COG-866236, and Israeli Science Foundation grant no. ISF-1281/ 17. J.R. was supported by Israeli Science Foundation grant no. 967/19. A.D.C. was supported by European Research Council Grant No. ERC-2015-STG-677458, and by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO/OCW) as part of the VIDI programme. B.K., and A.D.C. were supported by the QuantERA ERA-NET Cofund in Quantum Technologies (Project No. 731473). B.F. acknowledges the support from Jeunes Equipes de l'Institut de Physique du Collège de France and by a grant attributed by the Ile de France regional council. Work at Stanford was supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, under contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.

FundersFunder number
Ile de France
Jeunes Equipes de l'Institut de Physique du Collège de France
U.S. Department of Energy
Basic Energy Sciences
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme677458, 731473, 866236
Division of Materials Sciences and EngineeringDE-AC02-76SF00515
European Commission
Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Israel Science FoundationISF-1281/ 17, ERC-2015-STG-677458, 967/19

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