The main idea of this project is to induce changes on the metal-insulator transition
(MIT), magnetic and electronic properties of RNiO3 (R=Sm, Nd) thin films by defectengineering
through intentional creation of oxygen vacancies and spatially-selective
defects by ion irradiation, towards active photonic structures and optical metamaterials.
In this field, rare-earth nickelates (RNO) are outstanding phase transition materials for
the coupling between spin, charge, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom, yielding a
wide range of physical properties. The electronic, magnetic and transport properties of
RNO are known to be very sensitive to even subtle changes in Ni-O-Ni bond angles due
to lattice defects and strain, making them promising materials for multifunctional smart
devices. In this proposal, multifunctionality will be accessed via deliberately inserting
oxygen vacancies by annealing, and spatially defects by ion irradiation. |