Left: schematic illustration of a STEM probe scanning across the interface of two nickelate compounds, with the nature of the scattered electrons changing as the electronic phase of the material goes from being metallic to insulating. Right: atomic resolution STEM image of a nickelate thin film, coloured to represent the two compounds.
Left: schematic illustration of a STEM probe scanning across the interface of two nickelate compounds, with the nature of the scattered electrons changing as the electronic phase of the material goes from being metallic to insulating. Right: atomic resolution STEM image of a nickelate thin film, coloured to represent the two compounds. Duncan Alexander, EPFL - Scientists at EPFL and the University of Geneva have combined two powerful, cutting-edge techniques to uncover the physics behind an exotic phase transition that turns a metal into an insulator. The materials they looked at are rare-earth nickelates, which are of great interest for innovating new approaches in electronics. "Phase transitions" are a central phenomenon in physical sciences. Despite being technical-sounding, they are actually something we all experience in everyday life: ice melting into liquid water, or hot water evaporating as steam. Solid, liquid, and gas are three well known "phases" and, when one turns into another, that is a phase transition.
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