Scaling of non-Ohmic conduction in strongly correlated systems

Abstract

A new scaling formalism is used to analyze nonlinear I-V data in the vicinity of metal-insulator transitions (MIT) in five manganite systems. An exponent, called the nonlinearity exponent, and an onset field for nonlinearity, both characteristic of the system under study, are obtained from the analysis. The onset field is found to have an anomalously low value corroborating the theoretically predicted electronically soft phases. The scaling functions above and below the MIT of a polycrystalline sample are found to be the same but with different exponents which are attributed to the distribution of the MIT temperatures. The applicability of the scaling in manganites underlines the universal response of the disordered systems to electric field.