Spatially inhomogeneous electron state deep in the extreme quantum limit of strontium titanate

Bhattacharya, Anand; Skinner, Brian; Khalsa, Guru; Suslov, Alexey V.

doi:10.1038/ncomms12974

Title: Spatially inhomogeneous electron state deep in the extreme quantum limit of strontium titanate

Journal Article · Thu Sep 29 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12974· OSTI ID:1333158

^[1]; Skinner, Brian ^[2]; Khalsa, Guru ^[3]; Suslov, Alexey V. ^[4]

Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States); Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
National High Magnetic Field Lab., Tallahassee, FL (United States)

When an electronic system is subjected to a sufficiently strong magnetic field that the cyclotron energy is larger than the Fermi energy, the system enters the extreme quantum limit" (EQL) and becomes susceptible to a number of instabilities. Bringing an electronic system deeply into the EQL can be very difficult, however, since it requires a small Fermi energy, large magnetic field, and low disorder. Here we present an experimental study of the EQL in lightly-doped single crystals of strontium titanate. Our samples remain good bulk conductors down to very low temperatures and high magnetic fields. A number of interesting features arise in the transport upon entering the EQL, including a striking nonlinearity in the current-voltage characteristics. We discuss these features in the context of possible correlated electron states, and present evidence for magnetic-field induced puddling of electrons.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Excitonics (CE)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Materials Sciences and Engineering Division

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1333158

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1352906

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 7; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 15 works

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