Quantum Materials - 09

Abstract

Phase transitions in correlated electron systems, such as metal–insulator, magnetic, and superconducting transitions, offer unique opportunities for designing functional materials. Among them, metastable phases generated by rapid quenching are sometimes found to exhibit long lifetimes and non-volatile switching properties, making them attractive for novel information technologies [1, 2]. In this work, we demonstrate a heat-pulse-driven approach to control such metastable electronic phases. By applying a short and strong heat pulse to a system below a phase transition temperature, the system is heated above the transition temperature and then rapidly cooled to metastabilize a supercooled high-temperature phase. The resultant metastable phase can be erased and converted back to the low-temperature equilibrium phase by applying a longer and weaker heat pulse, providing reproducible and non-volatile switching [1, Fig. 1].

While these studies demonstrated their functionality, the emergence of such metastable phases was largely regarded as accidental, without a clear guiding principle. Recently, theoretical progress has clarified the conditions under which metastable states can be intentionally stabilized [3]. This new perspective provides a design rule for metastability, leading to a systematic frontier for future metastability-enabled electronics.