Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Letter

Two superconductor-insulator phase transitions in the spinel oxide Li1±xTi2O4−δ induced by ionic liquid gating

Zhongxu Wei1,2,*, Qian Li1,*, Ben-Chao Gong3,*, Xinjian Wei1,2,4,5,*, Wei Hu1,2, Zhuang Ni1,2, Ge He6, Mingyang Qin1,2, Anna Kusmartseva7 et al.

Fedor V. Kusmartsev7,8, Jie Yuan1,9, Beiyi Zhu1, Qihong Chen1, Jian-Hao Chen4,10,5, Kai Liu3, and Kui Jin1,2,9,†

  • 1Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • 2School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • 3Department of Physics and Beijing Key Laboratory of Opto-electronic Functional Materials & Micro-nano Devices, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
  • 4International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • 5Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
  • 6Walther Meissner Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 85748 Garching, Germany
  • 7Department of Physics, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, United Kingdom
  • 8College of Art and Science, Khalifa University, PO Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  • 9Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, Guangdong 523808, China
  • 10Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Corresponding author: kuijin@iphy.ac.cn

Phys. Rev. B 103, L140501 – Published 9 April, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.103.L140501

Abstract

The associations between emergent physical phenomena (e.g., superconductivity) and orbital, charge, and spin degrees of freedom of 3d electrons are intriguing in transition metal compounds. Here, we successfully manipulate the superconductivity of spinel oxide Li1±xTi2O4−δ (LTO) by ionic liquid gating. A dome-shaped superconducting phase diagram is established, where two insulating phases are disclosed both in heavily electron-doping and hole-doping regions. The superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) in the hole-doping region can be attributed to the loss of Ti valence electrons. In the electron-doping region, LTO exhibits an unexpected SIT instead of a metallic behavior despite an increase in carrier density. Furthermore, a thermal hysteresis is observed in the normal state resistance curve, suggesting a first-order phase transition. We speculate that the SIT and the thermal hysteresis stem from the enhanced 3d electron correlations and the formation of orbital ordering by comparing the transport and structural results of LTO with the other spinel oxide superconductor MgTi2O4 (MTO), as well as analyzing the electronic structure by first-principles calculations. Further comprehension of the detailed interplay between superconductivity and orbital ordering would contribute to the revealing of unconventional superconducting pairing mechanism.

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Authorization Required

We need you to provide your credentials before accessing this content.

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

References (Subscription Required)

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation