Electronic Correlation-driven Exotic Quantum Phase Transitions in Infinite-layer Manganese Oxide

Abstract

Despite the intensive interest in copper- and nickel-based superconductivity in infinite-layer structures, the physical properties of many other infinite-layer transition-metal oxides remain largely unknown. Here we unveil, by the first-principles calculations, the electronic correlation-driven quantum phase transitions in infinite-layer SrMnO2, where spin and charge orders are strongly interwoven. At weak electronic correlation region, SrMnO2 is a ferromagnetic metal with anisotropic spin transportation, as a promising spin valve under room-temperature. At middle electronic correlation region, a structural transition accompanied by charge/bond disproportion occurs as a consequence of Fermi surface nesting, resulting in a ferromagnetic insulator with reduced Curie temperature. At strong electronic correlation region, another structural transition occurs that drives the system into degenerately antiferromagnetic insulators with tunable magnetic order by piezoelectricity, a new type of multiferroics. Therefore, infinite-layer SrMnO2 is possibly a unique system on the quantum critical point, where electronic correlation can induce noticeable Fermi surface evolutions and small perturbations can realize remarkable quantum phase transitions.