Hysteretic behavior at the collapse of the metal-insulator transition in BaVS$_3$

TL;DR

This study investigates the hysteretic behavior near the metal-insulator transition in BaVS$_3$, revealing pressure and magnetic field-induced phase changes with hysteresis, indicating complex phase boundary crossings.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the hysteretic phenomena and phase boundary crossings at the metal-insulator transition in BaVS$_3$ under varying pressure and magnetic field.

Findings

Hysteresis observed in resistivity, temperature, and magnetic field measurements.

Sudden collapse of the MI phase boundary near critical pressure.

Magnetic field induces insulator-to-metal transition in high-quality samples.

Abstract

Electrical resistivity as a function of temperature, pressure, and magnetic field was measured in high and low purity single crystals of BaVS$_3$ close to the critical pressure value $p_{cr}$$\approx$2 GPa, associated with the zero temperature insulator-to-metal (MI) transition. In the 1.8-2.0 GPa range, where the MI transition is below $\approx$20 K, one can observe a sudden collapse of the MI phase boundary upon increasing pressure and at fixed pressure a magnetic field induced insulator to metal transition. In high quality samples these features are accompanied by hysteresis in all measured physical quantities as a function of temperature and magnetic field. We ascribe these observations to the crossing of the MI and the magnetic phase boundaries upon increasing pressure.