Mott transition from a spin liquid to a Fermi liquid in the spin-frustrated organic conductor kappa-(ET)2Cu2(CN)3

The pressure-temperature phase diagram of the organic Mott insulator kappa-(ET)2Cu2(CN)3, a model system of the spin liquid on triangular lattice, has been investigated by 1H NMR and resistivity measurements. The spin-liquid phase is persistent before the Mott transition to the metal or superconducting phase under pressure. At the Mott transition, the spin fluctuations are rapidly suppressed and the Fermi-liquid features are observed in the temperature dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation rate and resistivity. The characteristic curvature of the Mott boundary in the phase diagram highlights a crucial effect of the spin frustration on the Mott transition.     

Quantum fluctuations, temperature, and detuning effects in solid-light systems

The superfluid to Mott insulator transition in cavity polariton arrays is analyzed using the variational cluster approach, taking into account quantum fluctuations exactly on finite length scales. Phase diagrams in one and two dimensions exhibit important non-mean-field features. Single-particle excitation spectra in the Mott phase are dominated by particle and hole bands separated by a Mott gap. In contrast to Bose-Hubbard models, detuning allows for changing the nature of the bosonic particles from quasilocalized excitons to polaritons to weakly interacting photons. The Mott state with density one exists up to temperatures T/g > or = 0.03, implying experimentally accessible temperatures for realistic cavity couplings g.     

Superfluid-Mott-Insulator Phase Transition Phases of Bosons in an and Collective Fluctuations in both Optical Lattice

The Bose Hubbard model describing interacting bosons in an optical lattice is reduced to a simple spin-1 XY model with single-ion anisotropy in the vicinity of the Mott phase. In the strong coupling Mott insulating regime, we propose a mean t~eld theory based on a constraint SU（3） pseudo-boson representation on the effective model and discuss the excitation spectra and the phase transition to the superfluid state. Further to the superfluid phase, we use the coherent-state approach to derive the collective excitation modes. It is found that the Mort phase has two degenerate gapped quadratic excitation spectra which graduate into two degenerate gapless linear ones at the transition point, and one gapless linear mode with one gapped quadratic mode in the superfluid phase.     

Mott transition, antiferromagnetism, and d-wave superconductivity in two-dimensional organic conductors

We study the Mott transition, antiferromagnetism, and superconductivity in layered organic conductors using the cellular dynamical mean-field theory for the frustrated Hubbard model. A d-wave superconducting phase appears between an antiferromagnetic insulator and a metal for t'/t=0.3-0.7 or between a nonmagnetic Mott insulator (spin liquid) and a metal for t'/t>or=0.8, in agreement with experiments on layered organic conductors including kappa-(ET)2Cu2(CN)3. These phases are separated by a strong first-order transition. The phase diagram gives much insight into the mechanism for -wave superconductivity. Two predictions are made.     

Core-level x-ray photoemission satellites in ruthenates: a new mechanism revealing the Mott transition

Core-level x-ray photoemission spectra for the Mott-Hubbard systems are calculated by the dynamical mean-field theory based on the exact diagonalization method. The spectra show a two-peak structure, screened and unscreened peaks. The screened peak is absent in a Mott insulator, but develops into the main peak when the correlation strength becomes weak and the system turns metallic. The calculated spectral behavior is consistent with the experimental Ru 3d core-level spectra of various ruthenates. This new mechanism of the core-level photoemission satellite can be utilized to reveal the Mott transition phenomenon in various strongly correlated electron systems, especially in nanoscale devices and phase-separated materials.     

Spin liquid state in an organic Mott insulator with a triangular lattice

1H NMR and static susceptibility measurements have been performed in an organic Mott insulator with a nearly isotropic triangular lattice, kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu2(CN)(3), which is a model system of frustrated quantum spins. The static susceptibility is described by the spin S=1/2 antiferromagnetic triangular-lattice Heisenberg model with the exchange constant J approximately 250 K. Regardless of the large magnetic interactions, the 1H NMR spectra show no indication of long-range magnetic ordering down to 32 mK, which is 4 orders of magnitude smaller than J. These results suggest that a quantum spin liquid state is realized in the close proximity of the superconducting state appearing under pressure.     

Separate Mott and liquid-gas transitions in a coulomb gas: Photoexcited germanium

The phase diagram of photoexcited electron-hole (e-h) pairs, which are confined to a strain well in stressed Ge, is investigated via measurements of energy spectra and spatial distributions of e-h recombination luminescence. Above a triple-point temperature of 3.7 ± 0.2K, a Mott (metal-insulator) transition is observed at lower densities than the liquid-gas (LG) transition. The measured critical temperatures of the Mott and LG transitions are 6.5 ± 0.5K and 4.5 ± 0.2K respectively.     

On the phase diagram of a two-dimensional electron–hole system

The phase diagram for a system of spatially separated electrons and holes in coupled quantum wells or graphene double layers is studied in the framework of a BCS-like mean-field approach and a Landau expansion in terms of the pairing order parameter. We find a second order transition between an electron–hole plasma and a BCS phase, as well as a first-order transition between the BCS phase and a bosonic Mott phase of tightly bound electron–hole pairs without phase coherence. The electron–hole plasma exists at low and at high densities for weak interaction, the BCS phase at moderate density and the Mott phase at high density and strong interaction.     

Mott Transition and Superconductivity in Quantum Spin Liquid Candidate NaYbSe_2

The Mott transition is one of the fundamental issues in condensed matter physics,especially in the system with antiferromagnetic long-range order.However,such a transition is rare in quantum spin liquid(QSL) systems without long-range order.Here we report the experimental pressure-induced insulator to metal transition followed by the emergence of superconductivity in the QSL candidate NaYbSe_2 with a triangular lattice of 4 f Yb~(3+) ions.Detail analysis of transport properties in metallic state shows an evolution from non-Fermi liquid to Fermi liquid behavior when approaching the vicinity of superconductivity.An irreversible structure phase transition occurs around 11 GPa,which is revealed by the x-ray diffraction.These results shed light on the Mott transition in the QSL systems.     

Magnetic-field-induced Mott transition in a quasi-two-dimensional organic conductor

We investigated the effect of magnetic field on the highly correlated metal near the Mott transition in the quasi-two-dimensional layered organic conductor, kappa-(BEDT-TTF)(2)Cu[N(CN)(2)]Cl, by the resistance measurements under control of temperature, pressure, and magnetic field. It was demonstrated that the marginal metallic phase near the Mott transition is susceptible to the field-induced localization transition of the first order, as was predicted theoretically. The thermodynamic consideration of the present results gives a conceptual pressure-field phase diagram of the Mott transition at low temperatures.     

Mott transition in modulated lattices and parent insulator of (K,Tl)(y)Fe(x)Se(2) superconductors

The degree of electron correlations remains a central issue in the iron-based superconductors. The parent iron pnictides are antiferromagnetic, and their bad-metal behavior has been interpreted in terms of proximity to a Mott transition. We study such a transition in multiorbital models on modulated lattices containing an ordered pattern of iron vacancies, using a slave-rotor method. We show that the ordered vacancies lead to a band narrowing, which pushes the system to the Mott insulator side. This effect is proposed to underlie the insulating behavior observed in the parent compounds of the newly discovered (K,Tl)(y)Fe(x)Se(2) superconductors.     

Collective excitations and the nature of Mott transition in undoped gapped graphene

The particle-hole continuum (PHC) for massive Dirac fermions provides an unprecedented opportunity for the formation of two collective split-off states, one in the singlet and the other in the triplet (spin-1) channel, when the short-range interactions are added to the undoped system. Both states are close in energy and are separated from the continuum of free particle-hole excitations by an energy scale of the order of the gap parameter Δ. They both disperse linearly with two different velocities, reminiscent of spin-charge separation in Luttinger liquids. When the strength of Hubbard interactions is stronger than a critical value, the velocity of singlet excitation, which we interpret as a charge composite boson, becomes zero and renders the system a Mott insulator. Beyond this critical point the low-energy sector is left with a linearly dispersing triplet mode-a characteristic of a Mott insulator. The velocity of the triplet mode at the Mott criticality is twice the velocity of the underlying Dirac fermions. The phase transition line in the space of U and Δ is in qualitative agreement with our previous dynamical mean field theory calculations.     

Superfluid-Mott-Insulator Phase Transition of Bosons in an Optical Lattice

The Bose-Hubbard model describing interacting bosons in an optical lattice is reduced to a simple spin-1 XY model with single-ion anisotropy in the vicinity of the Mort phase. We propose a mean-field theory based on a constraint SU（3） pseudo-boson representation on the effective model to study the properties of the superfluid-Mott-insulator phase transition. By calculating the elementary excitation spectra and the average particle number tluctuation in the Brillouin zone center, we lind that the energy gaps vanish continuously around （JXY/Jz）c≈ 0.175 and （JxY/Jz）c ≈ 0.094 for 2D and 3D cubic lattices respectively, where the superfluid order parameters come up from zero and the Mort insulator state changes into a superfluid state.     

Gossamer superconductivity near antiferromagnetic Mott insulator in layered organic conductors

Layered organic superconductors are on the verge of the Mott insulator. We use the Gutzwiller variational method to study a two-dimensional Hubbard model including a spin exchange coupling term as a minimal model for the compounds. The ground state is found to be a Gossamer superconductor at small on-site Coulomb repulsion U and an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator at large U, separated by a first order phase transition. Our theory is qualitatively consistent with major experiments reported in organic superconductors.     

Electron–hole liquid formation by exciton and biexciton resonant excitation in CuCl

The dynamics of a cold photoexcited electron–hole system created by resonant excitation with picosecond optical pulses are studied by time-resolved emission and pump–probe measurements. A rapid build-up of strong metallic reflection in the mid-infrared region was observed, which indicates the creation of electron–hole plasma via the exciton or biexciton Mott transition. Transient reflection spectra clearly show the transformation of high-density electron–hole plasma into a metallic colloid-like state within 10 ps. In the meantime, broad plasma emission turns to a narrow emission band, in which the spectral profile does not change within several tens of picoseconds. These features in the emission spectra disappear when switched to the band-to-band excitation. An analysis of the reflection and emission spectra reveals that the density of metastable electron–hole liquid is as high as 10²⁰ cm⁻³. This indicates that the plasma formation via the Mott transition is crucial to eliminate excess heating for reaching the low-temperature states of an electron–hole ensemble.     

Phase transitions in a system of two coupled quantum wells

It is predicted that an excitonic liquid is formed in a system of spatially separated electrons (e) and holes (h) in a system of two coupled quantum wells. The ground-state energy and the equilibrium density of the excitonic liquid are calculated as a function of the distance D between the wells. A gas-liquid quantum transition with increasing D is studied. The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperatures at which superfluidity appears in the system are found (for different D). A quantum Mott metal-insulator transition in an anisotropic double-quantum-well structure is investigated. The region of existence of crystalline order in a system of spatially separated e and h is studied. Possible experimental manifestations of the predicted effects are discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 8, 526–531 (25 October 1996)     

Quasi-two-dimensional mott transition system Ca2-xSrxRuO4

We have revealed the phase diagram of Ca2-xSrxRuO4: the quasi-two-dimensional Mott transition system that connects the Mott insulator Ca2RuO4 with the spin-triplet superconductor Sr2RuO4. Adjacent to the metal/nonmetal transition at x approximately 0.2, we found an antiferromagnetically correlated metallic region where non-Fermi-liquid behavior in resistivity is observed. Besides this, the critical enhancement of susceptibility toward the region boundary at x(c) approximately 0.5 suggests the crossover of magnetic correlation to a nearly ferromagnetic state, which evolves into the spin-triplet superconductor Sr2RuO4.     

Imaging phase separation near the Mott boundary of the correlated organic superconductors kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2X

Electronic phase separation consisting of the metallic and insulating domains with 50-100 microm in diameter is found in the organic Mott system kappa-[(h8-BEDT-TTF)(1-x)(d8-BEDT-TTF)x]2Cu[N(CN)2]Br by means of scanning microregion infrared spectroscopy using the synchrotron radiation. The phase separation appears below the critical end temperature 35-40 K of the first-order Mott transition. The observation of the macroscopic size of the domains indicates a different class of the intrinsic electronic inhomogeneity from the nanoscale one reported in the inorganic Mott systems such as high-Tc copper and manganese oxides.     

Correlated insulated phase suggests bond order between band and mott insulators in two dimensions

We investigate the ground state phase diagram of the half-filled repulsive Hubbard model in two dimensions in the presence of a staggered potential Delta, the so-called ionic Hubbard model, using cluster dynamical mean-field theory. We find that for large Coulomb repulsion, U > Delta, the system is a Mott insulator (MI). For weak to intermediate values of Delta, on decreasing U, the Mott gap closes at a critical value Uc1(Delta) beyond which a correlated insulating phase with possible bond order is found. Further, this phase undergoes a first-order transition to a band insulator (BI) at Uc2(Delta) with a finite charge gap at the transition. For large Delta, there is a direct first-order transition from a MI to a BI with a single metallic point at the phase boundary.     

Ferro-type orbital state in the Mott transition system Ca2-xSrxRuO4 studied by the resonant x-ray scattering interference technique

We have succeeded in detecting ferro-type orbital states in Ca2-xSrxRuO4, which is the first outcome in a 4d Mott transition system by the resonant x-ray scattering interference technique. For x=0 (Mott insulator), the resonant signal for d(xy) orbital ordering is observed even at room temperature, in which the Jahn-Teller distortion is negligible. The signal disappears near the metal-insulator transition. On the other hand, in a metallic phase for x=0.5, orbital polarization with d(yz/zx) character dominates. With lowering temperature, the magnitude of the resonant signal slightly decreases owing to the additional influence of the gamma band with d(xy) character.