Strain-induced metal-insulator phase coexistence and stability in perovskite manganites

TL;DR

This paper models how strain influences the coexistence and stability of metal-insulator phases in perovskite manganites, highlighting the roles of long-range interactions and complex energy landscapes.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent atomic scale model for strain-induced phase coexistence and analyzes domain stability considering both nanoscale and mesoscale inhomogeneities.

Findings

Long-range strain interactions stabilize phase coexistence.

Multiple metastable states influence domain configurations.

Domain wall stability depends on strain and energy landscape.

Abstract

We present a detailed study of a model for strain-induced metal-insulator phase coexistence in perovskite manganites. Both nanoscale and mesoscale inhomogeneities are self-consistently described using atomic scale modes and their associated constraint equations. We also examine the stability of domain configurations against uniform and nonuniform modifications of domain walls. Our results show that the long range interactions between strain fields and the complex energy landscape with multiple metastable states play essential roles in stabilizing metal-insulator phase coexistence, as observed in perovskite manganites. We elaborate on the modes, constraint equations, energies, and energy gradients that form the basis of our simulation results.