Non-universal current flow near the metal-insulator transition in an oxide interface.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34083533.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-23393-5 and PMC identifier 8175561.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
In systems near phase transitions, macroscopic properties often follow algebraic scaling laws, determined by the dimensionality and the underlying symmetries of the system. The emergence of such universal scaling implies that microscopic details are irrelevant. Here, we locally investigate the scaling properties of the metal-insulator transition at the LaAlO<sub>3</sub>/SrTiO<sub>3</sub> interface. We show that, by changing the dimensionality and the symmetries of the electronic system, coupling between structural and electronic properties prevents the universal behavior near the transition. By imaging the current flow in the system, we reveal that structural domain boundaries modify the filamentary flow close to the transition point, preventing a fractal with the expected universal dimension from forming.