Nanoscale manipulation of the Mott insulating state coupled to charge order in 1T-TaS2.

ABSTRACT: The controllability over strongly correlated electronic states promises unique electronic devices. A recent example is an optically induced ultrafast switching device based on the transition between the correlated Mott insulating state and a metallic state of a transition metal dichalcogenide 1T-TaS2. However, the electronic switching has been challenging and the nature of the transition has been veiled. Here we demonstrate the nanoscale electronic manipulation of the Mott state of 1T-TaS2. The voltage pulse from a scanning tunnelling microscope switches the insulating phase locally into a metallic phase with irregularly textured domain walls in the charge density wave order inherent to this Mott state. The metallic state is revealed as a correlated phase, which is induced by the moderate

SUBMITTER: Cho D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4735893 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature