Current-induced giant lattice deformation in the Mott insulator Ca₂RuO₄

We report that the volume of an orbital-ordered Mott insulator Ca₂RuO₄ is purely changed by an electrical current at constant temperature and pressure. The observed giant electromechanical response is an intrinsic non-equilibrium property in currents, not from an extrinsic self-heating effect, as is clearly demonstrated by combined transport and synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction experiments. The underlying mechanism is ascribed to a suppression of orbital order by currents, significantly differing from conventional piezoelectric or electrostrictive effect in dielectric materials. Our results imply a novel non-equilibrium equation of state, in which an equilibrium quantity is described by a non-equilibrium variable, and thus provide fundamental data for investigating the evolving field of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. (author)