We present a coordinated study of the paramagnetic-to-antiferromagnetic, rhombohedral-to-monoclinic, and metal-to-insulator transitions in thin-film specimens of the classic Mott insulator V2O3 using low-energy muon spin relaxation, x-ray diffraction, and nanoscale-resolved near-field infrared spectroscopic techniques. The measurements provide a detailed characterization of the thermal evolution of the magnetic, structural, and electronic phase transitions occurring in a wide temperature range, including quantitative measurements of the high- and low-temperature phase fractions for each transition. The results reveal a stable coexistence of the high- and low-temperature phases over a broad temperature range throughout the transition. Careful comparison of temperature dependence of the different measurements, calibrated by the resistance of the sample, demonstrates that the electronic, magnetic, and structural degrees of freedom remain tightly coupled to each other during the transition process. We also find evidence for antiferromagnetic fluctuations in the vicinity of the phase transition, highlighting the important role of the magnetic degree of freedom in the metal-insulator transition.
@article{arxiv.1910.10188,
title = {Intertwined magnetic, structural, and electronic transitions in V$_2$O$_3$},
author = {Benjamin A. Frandsen and Yoav Kalcheim and Ilya Valmianski and Alexander S. McLeod and Z. Guguchia and Sky C. Cheung and Alannah M. Hallas and Murray N. Wilson and Yipeng Cai and Graeme M. Luke and Z. Salman and A. Suter and T. Prokscha and Taito Murakami and Hiroshi Kageyama and D. N. Basov and Ivan K. Schuller and Yasutomo J. Uemura},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.10188},
year = {2019}
}