Strain Tuning of Plasma Frequency in Vanadate, Niobate, and Molybdate Perovskite Oxides

Abstract

A novel approach for finding new transparent conductors involves taking advantage of electronic correlations in metallic transition metal oxides, such as SrVO$_3$, to enhance the electronic effective mass and suppress the plasma frequency ($\omega_P$) to infrared. Success of this approach relies on finding a compound with the right electron effective mass and quasiparticle weight $Z$. Biaxial strain can in principle be a fruitful way to manipulate the electronic properties of materials to tune both of these quantities. In this study, we elucidate the behavior of the electronic properties of early transition metal oxides SrVO$_3$, SrNbO$_3$, and SrMoO$_3$ under strain, using first principles density functional theory and dynamical mean field theory. We show that strain is not an effective way to manipulate the plasma frequency, but dimensionality of the crystal structure and origin of electronic correlations strongly affect the trends in both $\omega_P$ and $Z$.