Microscopic Magnetic Properties of (V$_{1-x}$Ti$_{x}$)$_2$O$_3$ near the Phase Boundary of the Metal-Insulator Transition

Abstract

Magnetic susceptibility (chi) and $^{51}$V NMR have been measured in (V$_{1-x}$Ti$_{x}$)$_2$O$_3$ near the phase boundary of the metal-insulator transition. It is established that the transition from antiferromagnetic insulating (AFI) to antiferromagnetic metallic phases near $x_{\rm c}\approx 0.05$ is not quantum critical but is discontinuous with a jump of the transition temperature. In the AFI phase at 4.2 K, we observed the satellite in the zero-field $^{51}$V NMR spectrum around 181 MHz in addition to the ``host'' resonance around 203 MHz. The satellite is also observable in the paramagnetic metallic phase of the x = 0.055 sample. We associated the satellite with the V sites near Ti which are in the V$^{3+}$-like oxidation state but has different temperature dependence of the NMR shift from that of the host V site. The host d-spin susceptibility for x = 0.055 decreases below $\sim$60 K but remains finite in the low-temperature limit.