  Structural phase transitions serve as the basis for many functional
applications including shape memory alloys (SMAs), switches based on
metal-insulator transitions (MITs), etc. In such materials, lattice
incompatibility between phases often results in a thermal hysteresis, which is
intimately tied to degradation of reversibility of the transformation. The
non-linear theory of martensite suggests that the hysteresis of a martensitic
phase transformation is solely determined by the lattice constants, and the
conditions proposed for geometrical compatibility have been successfully
applied to minimizing the hysteresis in SMAs. In this work, we apply the
non-linear theory to a strongly correlated oxide system (W doped VO2), and show
that the hysteresis of the MIT in the system can be directly tuned by adjusting
the lattice constants of the phases. The results underscore the profound
influence structural compatibility has on intrinsic electronic properties, and
indicate that the theory provides a universal guidance for optimizing phase
transforming materials.
