Coexisting first- and second-order electronic phase transitions in a correlated oxide

Abstract

The explanation and control of phase transitions remain cornerstones of contemporary physics. Landau provided an invaluable insight into the thermodynamics of complex systems by formulating their phase transitions in terms of an order parameter. Within this formulation, continuous evolution of the order parameter away from zero classifies the phase transition as second-order, whereas a discontinuous change signals a first-order transition. Here we show that the temperature-tuned insulator–metal transition in the prototypical correlated electron system NdNiO3 defies this established binary classification. By harnessing a nanoscale optical probe of the local electronic conductivity, we reveal two physically distinct yet concurrent phase transitions in epitaxial NdNiO3 films. Whereas the sample bulk exhibits a first-order transition between metal and insulator phases, we resolve anomalous nanoscale domain walls in the insulating state that undergo a distinctly continuous insulator–metal transition, with hallmarks of second-order behaviour. We ascribe these domain walls to boundaries between antiferromagnetically ordered domains within the charge ordered bulk. The close correspondence of these observations to predictions from a Landau theory of coupled charge and magnetic orders highlights the importance of coupled order parameters in driving the complex phase transition in NdNiO3. A phase transition between metallic and insulating states is observed to simultaneously happen in two ways at once. The bulk of the sample shows an instantaneous jump in the conductivity, while 1D domain walls show a slow switching into a metallic state.