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

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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 (US)
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
Externally published	Yes

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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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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.}",

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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

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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.

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

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