Symmetry breaking and geometric confinement in VO2: Results from a three-dimensional infrared nano-imaging

Mengkun Liu; Martin Wagner; Jingdi Zhang; Alexander McLeod; Salinporn Kittiwatanakul; Zhe Fei; Elsa Abreu; Michael Goldflam; Aaron J. Sternbach; Siyuan Dai; Kevin G. West; Jiwei Lu; Stuart A. Wolf; Richard D. Averitt; D. N. Basov

doi:10.1063/1.4869558

Symmetry breaking and geometric confinement in VO₂: Results from a three-dimensional infrared nano-imaging

Mengkun Liu
, Martin Wagner
, Jingdi Zhang
, Alexander McLeod
, Salinporn Kittiwatanakul
, Zhe Fei
, Elsa Abreu
, Michael Goldflam
, Aaron J. Sternbach
, Siyuan Dai
, Kevin G. West
, Jiwei Lu
, Stuart A. Wolf
, Richard D. Averitt
, D. N. Basov

Physics and Astronomy

Stony Brook University

University of California at San Diego
Boston University
University of Virginia

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

Epitaxial strain can play an important role in controlling the local phase dynamics of transition metal oxides. With scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy, we visualize the three dimensional landscape of phase inhomogeneity in strained VO₂ films grown on [100]_R TiO₂ substrates. We demonstrate that three different symmetries are spontaneously broken in the vicinity of the VO₂ phase transition: (1) Monoclinic-tetragonal (rutile) crystal symmetry breaking due to the structural phase transition, (2) in-plane (x-y plane) rotational symmetry breaking due to the formation of periodic strain domains, and (3) out-of-plane (z-axis) mirror symmetry breaking at the film cross-section due to substrate-induced epitaxial strain.

Original language	English
Article number	121905
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	104
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4869558
State	Published - Mar 24 2014

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Liu, M., Wagner, M., Zhang, J., McLeod, A., Kittiwatanakul, S., Fei, Z., Abreu, E., Goldflam, M., Sternbach, A. J., Dai, S., West, K. G., Lu, J., Wolf, S. A., Averitt, R. D., & Basov, D. N. (2014). Symmetry breaking and geometric confinement in VO₂: Results from a three-dimensional infrared nano-imaging. Applied Physics Letters, 104(12), Article 121905. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4869558

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title = "Symmetry breaking and geometric confinement in VO2: Results from a three-dimensional infrared nano-imaging",

abstract = "Epitaxial strain can play an important role in controlling the local phase dynamics of transition metal oxides. With scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy, we visualize the three dimensional landscape of phase inhomogeneity in strained VO2 films grown on [100]R TiO2 substrates. We demonstrate that three different symmetries are spontaneously broken in the vicinity of the VO2 phase transition: (1) Monoclinic-tetragonal (rutile) crystal symmetry breaking due to the structural phase transition, (2) in-plane (x-y plane) rotational symmetry breaking due to the formation of periodic strain domains, and (3) out-of-plane (z-axis) mirror symmetry breaking at the film cross-section due to substrate-induced epitaxial strain.",

author = "Mengkun Liu and Martin Wagner and Jingdi Zhang and Alexander McLeod and Salinporn Kittiwatanakul and Zhe Fei and Elsa Abreu and Michael Goldflam and Sternbach, \{Aaron J.\} and Siyuan Dai and West, \{Kevin G.\} and Jiwei Lu and Wolf, \{Stuart A.\} and Averitt, \{Richard D.\} and Basov, \{D. N.\}",

year = "2014",

month = mar,

day = "24",

doi = "10.1063/1.4869558",

language = "English",

volume = "104",

journal = "Applied Physics Letters",

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T2 - Results from a three-dimensional infrared nano-imaging

AU - Liu, Mengkun

AU - Wagner, Martin

AU - Zhang, Jingdi

AU - McLeod, Alexander

AU - Kittiwatanakul, Salinporn

AU - Fei, Zhe

AU - Abreu, Elsa

AU - Goldflam, Michael

AU - Sternbach, Aaron J.

AU - Dai, Siyuan

AU - West, Kevin G.

AU - Lu, Jiwei

AU - Wolf, Stuart A.

AU - Averitt, Richard D.

AU - Basov, D. N.

PY - 2014/3/24

Y1 - 2014/3/24

N2 - Epitaxial strain can play an important role in controlling the local phase dynamics of transition metal oxides. With scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy, we visualize the three dimensional landscape of phase inhomogeneity in strained VO2 films grown on [100]R TiO2 substrates. We demonstrate that three different symmetries are spontaneously broken in the vicinity of the VO2 phase transition: (1) Monoclinic-tetragonal (rutile) crystal symmetry breaking due to the structural phase transition, (2) in-plane (x-y plane) rotational symmetry breaking due to the formation of periodic strain domains, and (3) out-of-plane (z-axis) mirror symmetry breaking at the film cross-section due to substrate-induced epitaxial strain.

AB - Epitaxial strain can play an important role in controlling the local phase dynamics of transition metal oxides. With scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy, we visualize the three dimensional landscape of phase inhomogeneity in strained VO2 films grown on [100]R TiO2 substrates. We demonstrate that three different symmetries are spontaneously broken in the vicinity of the VO2 phase transition: (1) Monoclinic-tetragonal (rutile) crystal symmetry breaking due to the structural phase transition, (2) in-plane (x-y plane) rotational symmetry breaking due to the formation of periodic strain domains, and (3) out-of-plane (z-axis) mirror symmetry breaking at the film cross-section due to substrate-induced epitaxial strain.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84897413714

U2 - 10.1063/1.4869558

DO - 10.1063/1.4869558

M3 - Article

SN - 0003-6951

VL - 104

JO - Applied Physics Letters

JF - Applied Physics Letters

IS - 12

M1 - 121905

ER -

Symmetry breaking and geometric confinement in VO₂: Results from a three-dimensional infrared nano-imaging

Abstract

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