Modulation of the charge carrier density in a Mott material by remote doping from a highly doped conventional band insulator is proposed to test theoretical predictions of band filling control of the Mott metal-insulator transition without introducing lattice distortions or disorder, as is the case for chemical doping. The approach is experimentally tested using ultrathin (2.5 nm) NdNiO3 films that are epitaxially grown on La-doped SrTiO3 films. We show that remote doping systematically changes the charge carrier density in the NdNiO3 film and causes a moderate shift in the metal-insulator transition temperature. These results are discussed in the context of theoretical models of this class of materials exhibiting a metal-insulator transition.
@article{arxiv.1110.4134,
title = {Probing the metal-insulator transition of NdNiO3 by electrostatic doping},
author = {Junwoo Son and Bharat Jalan and Adam P. Kajdos and Leon Balents and S. James Allen and Susanne Stemmer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1110.4134},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
The article has been accepted by Applied Physics Letters. After it is published, it will be found at http://apl.aip.org/