Abstract. We report the time and temperature dependent response of thermopower in the non-magnetic perovskite oxide NdNiO₃. We find that on cooling below the metal–insulator transition temperature the system evolves into a phase separated state which consists of supercooled metallic and insulating phases. This phase separated state exhibits out of equilibrium features, such as cooling rate dependence and time dependence. The existence of these dynamical features is attributed to the transformation of supercooled metallic phases to the insulating state. On cooling, a small fraction of the supercooled phases get kinetically arrested in a glassy state and these supercooled phases remain in that state down to low temperature. In the heating cycle the arrested states de-arrest above 150 K and this results in the reappearance of time dependent features.

Print publication: Issue 48 (2 December 2009)
Received 27 July 2009, in final form 12 October 2009
Published 30 October 2009