Takafumi Hatano

Collective bulk carrier delocalization driven by electrostatic surface charge accumulation

In the classic transistor, the number of electric charge carriers—and thus the electrical conductivity—is precisely controlled by external voltage, providing electrical switching capability. This simple but powerful feature is essential for information processing technology, and also provides a platform for fundamental physics research. As the number of charges essentially determines the electronic phase of a condensed-matter system, transistor operation enables reversible and isothermal changes in the system’s state, as successfully demonstrated in electric-field-induced ferromagnetism and superconductivity. However, this effect of the electric field is limited to a channel thickness of nanometres or less, owing to the presence of Thomas–Fermi screening. Here we show that this conventional picture does not apply to a class of materials characterized by inherent collective interactions between electrons and the crystal lattice. We prepared metal–insulator–semiconductor field-effect transistors based on vanadium dioxide—a strongly correlated material with a thermally driven, first-order metal–insulator transition well above room temperature—and found that electrostatic charging at a surface drives all the previously localized charge carriers in the bulk material into motion, leading to the emergence of a three-dimensional metallic ground state. This non-local switching of the electronic state is achieved by applying a voltage of only about one volt. In a voltage-sweep measurement, the first-order nature of the metal–insulator transition provides a non-volatile memory effect, which is operable at room temperature. Our results demonstrate a conceptually new field-effect device, extending the concept of electric-field control to macroscopic phase control.

Infrared-sensitive electrochromic device based on VO2

The field-effect transistor (FET) provides an electrical switching function of current flowing through a channel surface by external voltage. Here, we report on a field-effect device that enables electrical switching of optical transmittance as well as conventional electrical current. We investigated optical properties of vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin film under the presence of electric field generated at the interface between VO2 and ionic liquid in a FET geometry, and found that the device exhibits clear electrochromic effect with large ON/OFF contrast only in the infrared region, potentially beneficial for energy-saving smart window applications as a voltage-tunable transparent heat-cutting filter.

Transverse photovoltage induced by circularly polarized light.

We discovered transverse photo-induced voltage in two-dimensional metallic photonic crystal slabs for oblique incident circularly polarized light. Signal sign is reversed by changing the sense of polarization or sign of incident angle.

Gate Control of Electronic Phases in a Quarter-Filled Manganite

Electron correlation often produces a variety of electrically insulating states caused by self-organization of electrons, which are particularly stable at commensurate fillings. Although collapsing such ordered states by minute external stimuli has been a key strategy toward device applications, it is difficult to access their true electronic phase boundaries due to the necessity of fine-tuning of material parameters. Here, we demonstrate the ambipolar resistance switching in Pr1−xSrxMnO3 thin films (x = 0.5; an effectively 1/4-filled state) by quasi-continuous control of the doping level x and band-width W using gate-voltage and magnetic field, enabled by the extreme electric-field formed at the nanoscale interface generated in an electrolyte-gated transistor. An electroresistance peak with unprecedented steepness emerges on approaching a critical point in the x-W phase diagram. The technique opens a new route to Mott-insulator based transistors and to discovering singularities hitherto unnoticed in conventional bulk studies of strongly correlated electron systems.

Gate-tunable gigantic lattice deformation in VO2

We examined the impact of electric field on crystal lattice of vanadium dioxide (VO2) in a field-effect transistor geometry by in-situ synchrotron x-ray diffraction measurements. Whereas the c-axis lattice parameter of VO2 decreases through the thermally induced insulator-to-metal phase transition, the gate-induced metallization was found to result in a significant increase of the c-axis length by almost 1% from that of the thermally stabilized insulating state. We also found that this gate-induced gigantic lattice deformation occurs even at the thermally stabilized metallic state, enabling dynamic control of c-axis lattice parameter by more than 1% at room temperature.

Optical rectification effect in 1D metallic photonic crystal slabs with asymmetric unit cell

Photo-induced voltage due to photon drag effect is investigated for metallic photonic crystal slabs (PCS) with symmetric and asymmetric unit cells. In the symmetric structure, the signal is antisymmetric as a function of the incident angle, while in the asymmetric structure it is asymmetric. When the laser beam is normally incident to the sample, the photovoltage is observed only for PCS with asymmetric unit cells and its laser wavelength dependence is readily described in terms of uneven diffraction. The phenomenon can be referred to as optical rectification due to photonic scale asymmetry.

Reciprocal transmittances and reflectances: An elementary proof

We present an elementary proof concerning reciprocal transmittances and reflectances. The proof is direct, simple, and valid for the diverse objects that can be absorptive and induce diffraction and scattering, as long as the objects respond linearly and locally to electromagnetic waves. The proof enables students who understand the basics of classical electromagnetics to grasp the physical basis of reciprocal optical responses. We show an example to demonstrate reciprocal response numerically and experimentally.

Highly textured oxypnictide superconducting thin films on metal substrates

Highly textured NdFeAs(O,F) thin films have been grown on ion beam assisted deposition-MgO/Y2O3/Hastelloy substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The oxypnictide coated conductors showed a superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of 43 K with a self-field critical current density (Jc) of 7.0×104 A/cm2 at 5 K, more than 20 times higher than powder-in-tube processed SmFeAs(O,F) wires. Albeit higher Tc as well as better crystalline quality than Co-doped BaFe2As2 coated conductors, in-field Jc of NdFeAs(O,F) was lower than that of Co-doped BaFe2As2. These results suggest that grain boundaries in oxypnictides reduce Jc significantly compared to that in Co-doped BaFe2As2 and, hence biaxial texture is necessary for high Jc.

Gate Control of Percolative Conduction in Strongly Correlated Manganite Films

Gate control of percolative conduction in a phase-separated manganite system is demonstrated in a field-effect transistor geometry, resulting in ambipolar switching from a metallic state to an insulating state.

Intrinsic and extrinsic pinning in NdFeAs(O,F): vortex trapping and lock-in by the layered structure.

Fe-based superconductors (FBS) present a large variety of compounds whose properties are affected to different extents by their crystal structures. Amongst them, the REFeAs(O,F) (RE1111, RE being a rare-earth element) is the family with the highest critical temperature Tc but also with a large anisotropy and Josephson vortices as demonstrated in the flux-flow regime in Sm1111 (Tc ∼ 55 K). Here we focus on the pinning properties of the lower-Tc Nd1111 in the flux-creep regime. We demonstrate that for H//c critical current density Jc at high temperatures is dominated by point-defect pinning centres, whereas at low temperatures surface pinning by planar defects parallel to the c-axis and vortex shearing prevail. When the field approaches the ab-planes, two different regimes are observed at low temperatures as a consequence of the transition between 3D Abrikosov and 2D Josephson vortices: one is determined by the formation of a vortex-staircase structure and one by lock-in of vortices parallel to the layers. This is the first study on FBS showing this behaviour in the full temperature, field, and angular range and demonstrating that, despite the lower Tc and anisotropy of Nd1111 with respect to Sm1111, this compound is substantially affected by intrinsic pinning generating a strong ab-peak in Jc.