Photoemission microscopy study of the two metal-insulator transitions in Cr-doped V2O3

We present a spectromicroscopy study of the two distinct metal-insulator transitions in (V1−xCrx)2O3, x = 0.011. The coexistence of metallic and insulating domains was observed with scanning photoelectron microscopy for both the paramagnetic insulator-paramagnetic metal and paramagnetic metal-antiferromagnetic insulator transitions, evidencing a clear correlation between their nucleation regions. Although these two transitions are very different in nature and underlying mechanism, in both cases the morphology of their phase separation is influenced by structural inhomogeneities. These results demonstrate the general relevance of strain caused by local lattice distortions in guiding the intrinsic tendency towards phase separation in Mott materials.