Resistive Switching as Nonequilibrium Phase Transition

ORAL

Abstract

We investigate the quantum mechanical origin of resistive phase
transitions in solids driven by a constant electric field in the
vicinity of a metal-insulator transition [1]. We perform a nonequilibrium
mean-field analysis of a driven-dissipative symmetry-broken insulator,
which we solve analytically for the most part. We find that the
insulator-to-metal transition (IMT) and the metal-to-insulator
transition (MIT) proceed by two distinct electronic mechanisms:
Landau-Zener processes and the destabilization of the metallic state by
Joule heating, respectively. Our analytic approach enables us to
formulate testable predictions on the nonanalytic behavior of I -V
relation near the insulator-to-metal transition. Building on these
successes, we propose an effective Ginzburg-Landau theory which paves
the way to incorporating spatial fluctuations and to bringing the theory
closer to a realistic description of the resistive switchings in
correlated materials.

[1] J. E. Han, J. Li, C. Aron, and G. Kotliar, Phys. Rev. B 98, 035145 (2018).

*We acknowledge financial support form National Science Foundation with Grant No. DMR-1733071.

Presenters

  • Jong E Han

    • University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
    • Department of Physics, State University of New York at Buffalo
    • Department of Physics, University at Buffalo
    • Physics, State Univ of NY - Buffalo

Authors

  • Jong E Han

    • University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
    • Department of Physics, State University of New York at Buffalo
    • Department of Physics, University at Buffalo
    • Physics, State Univ of NY - Buffalo
  • Jiajun Li

    • University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
    • Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • Camille Aron

    • Department of Physics, Ecole Normale Superieure, CNRS, Paris, France
  • Gabriel Kotliar

    • Rutgers University and Brookhaven National Laboratories
    • Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Upton, New York 11973, USA, Brookhaven National Laboratory
    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick
    • Brookhaven National Laboratory
    • Department of Physics, Rutgers University
    • Physics, Rutgers University
    • Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA
    • Physics and Astronomy Department, Rutgers University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, NJ