Metal-insulator transition in composition-tuned nickel oxide films

Thin films of the solid solution Nd1-xLaxNiO3 are grown in order to study the expected 0 K phase transitions at a specific composition. We experimentally map out the structural, electronic and magnetic properties as a function of x and a discontinuous, possibly first order, insulator-metal transition is observed at low temperature when x = 0.2. Raman spectroscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy show that this is not associated with a correspondingly discontinuous global structural change. On the other hand, results from density functional theory (DFT) and combined DFT and dynamical mean field theory calculations produce a 0 K first order transition at around this composition. We further estimate the temperature-dependence of the transition from thermodynamic considerations and find that a discontinuous insulator-metal transition can be reproduced theoretically and implies a narrow insulator-metal phase coexistence with x. Finally, muon spin rotation (mu SR) measurements suggest that there are non-static magnetic moments in the system that may be understood in the context of the first order nature of the 0 K transition and its associated phase coexistence regime.