AFM Study of Temperature Driven Phase Transitions in Vanadates

Vanadates have many interesting properties with possible applications ranging from solar energy to transparent electronics. As many applications depend on the variation of structural and electronic properties thru phase transitions, to develop new applications it is important to have a good understanding of these transitions. Here we present results from atomic force microscopy studies of vanadates undergoing temperature driven phase transitions. In particular, we observe changes in a stripe order parameter as the materials pass through their structural transition temperatures. These observations give us insight into the nature of these transitions and how they can be controlled.