Inhomogeneous electronic states associated with charge-orbital order/disorder in BaV10O15 probed by photoemission spectromicroscopy

We have performed scanning photoemission spectromicroscopy of BaV10O15 across the metal-insulator transition at 123 K, which is accompanied by V 3d charge/orbital order and V trimerization. Nucleation of metallic domains is observed at the cleaved surface of BaV10O15 single crystals, similar to Cr-doped V2O3 in which electronic configurations of Cr3+ and V3+ are the same as those of V2+ and V3+ in BaV10O15. Typical domain size is similar to 5- 10 mu m at 150 K, just above the transition temperature. The metallic domains continuously grow up to 240 K, well above the transition temperature. The temperature evolution of the metallic phase in BaV10O15 is different from that of Cr-doped V2O3, probably due to the charge degrees of freedom in BaV10O15.