Multi-probe detection of domain nucleation across the metal-insulator transition in VO$_2$

TL;DR

This study investigates the domain nucleation and distribution during the metal-insulator transition in VO₂ using multiple microscopic and macroscopic techniques, revealing how growth and interactions influence the transition.

Contribution

It introduces a multi-probe approach combining FORC and infrared imaging to analyze domain behavior in VO₂ thin films with different grain sizes.

Findings

Domain interactions affect the thermal hysteresis in VO₂.

Grain size influences the domain nucleation process.

Quantitative analysis links growth conditions to domain dynamics.

Abstract

Electronic and structural degrees of freedom are often intimately coupled in strongly correlated systems, which result in intriguing macroscopic and microscopic phenomena. Using the well-studied material VO$_2$ as a prototype, here we explore the domain distribution across the metal-insulator transition (MIT). We use macroscopic as well as microscopic techniques, such as first-order reversal curve (FORC) and infrared imaging, to probe the domain distributions across the MIT. This study compares MIT in thin films of VO$_2$ with different grain sizes grown by pulsed laser deposition and dc sputtering. We explore the relation between the nature of the FORC distribution and the corresponding thermal hysteresis due to interactions between the supercooled metallic domains and surrounding insulating matrix. Our multi-probe study with quantitative analysis provides a correlation between the growth, domain interaction, and domain nucleation process in MIT.