Straintronic effect on electronic transport and metal–insulator transition in correlated metal films by electric field

Abstract

Tuning the electronic and magnetic properties of strongly correlated oxides by exerting an electric field is of great significance for understanding the mechanisms of striking quantum phenomena and delivering low-dissipation electronic devices. Here, we demonstrate a linear suppression of electrical resistivity for correlated metallic SrVO3 epitaxial films in a continuous and reversible fashion through the converse piezoelectric response-generated linear lateral compressive strain of ferroelectric Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 substrates. By precisely tailoring the polarization domain configuration of the substrate, a lateral tensile strain can also be dynamically induced into films and, thus, can robustly increase the resistivity due to reduced effective electronic bandwidth and enhanced electron–electron interaction. Particularly, the electrically triggered nonvolatile opening and closing of a metal–insulator transition is driven by the ferroelastic strain-controlled Mott gap. Our findings illustrate the vital role of an electric field in controlling the lattice degree of freedom and electron correlation and provide a framework for exploring the essential physics of the straintronic effect in correlated metallic oxides.