Hidden transport phenomena in an ultraclean correlated metal

Matthew Brahlek; Joseph D Roth; Lei Zhang; Megan Briggeman; Patrick Irvin; Jason Lapano; Jeremy Levy; Turan Birol; Roman Engel-Herbert

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48043-4

Hidden transport phenomena in an ultraclean correlated metal

Nat Commun. 2024 Jun 24;15(1):5304. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48043-4.

Authors

Matthew Brahlek^{1

2}, Joseph D Roth³, Lei Zhang³, Megan Briggeman^{4

5}, Patrick Irvin^{4

5}, Jason Lapano³, Jeremy Levy^{4

5}, Turan Birol⁶, Roman Engel-Herbert^{7

8

9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. [email protected].
² Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37930, USA. [email protected].
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
⁵ Pittsburgh Quantum Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA.
⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA.
⁷ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. [email protected].
⁸ Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. [email protected].
⁹ Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. [email protected].
¹⁰ Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Leibniz Institut im Forschungsverbund Berlin eV., Hausvogteiplatz 5-7, 10117, Berlin, Germany. [email protected].

Abstract

Advancements in materials synthesis have been key to unveil the quantum nature of electronic properties in solids by providing experimental reference points for a correct theoretical description. Here, we report hidden transport phenomena emerging in the ultraclean limit of the archetypical correlated electron system SrVO₃. The low temperature, low magnetic field transport was found to be dominated by anisotropic scattering, whereas, at high temperature, we find a yet undiscovered phase that exhibits clear deviations from the expected Landau Fermi liquid, which is reminiscent of strange-metal physics in materials on the verge of a Mott transition. Further, the high sample purity enabled accessing the high magnetic field transport regime at low temperature, which revealed an anomalously high Hall coefficient. Taken with the strong anisotropic scattering, this presents a more complex picture of SrVO₃ that deviates from a simple Landau Fermi liquid. These hidden transport anomalies observed in the ultraclean limit prompt a theoretical reexamination of this canonical correlated electron system beyond the Landau Fermi liquid paradigm, and more generally serves as an experimental basis to refine theoretical methods to capture such nontrivial experimental consequences emerging in correlated electron systems.