Metal-insulator transition in a two-layer electron-hole system

This paper discusses a quantum-mechanical metal-insulator transition that occurs in an anisotropic electron-hole system with the electrons and holes separated and confined to a double quantum well. The critical concentration n _c of carriers in the system above which the excitonic (insulating) phase becomes an electron-hole (metallic) phase is investigated, along with its dependence on the distance between wells D. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 1654–1656 (September 1997)     

Metal–insulator phase transition and topology in a three-component system

Due to the topology, insulators become non-trivial, particularly those with large Chern numbers which support multiple edge channels, catching our attention. In the framework of the tight binding approximation, we study a non-interacting Chern insulator model on the three-component dice lattice with real nearest-neighbor and complex next-nearest-neighbor hopping subjected to Λ-or V-type sublattice potentials. By analyzing the dispersions of corresponding energy bands, we find that the system undergoes a metal–insulator transition which can be modulated not only by the Fermi energy but also the tunable extra parameters. Furthermore, rich topological phases, including the ones with high Hall plateau, are uncovered by calculating the associated band’s Chern number. Besides, we also analyze the edge-state spectra and discuss the correspondence between Chern numbers and the edge states by the principle of bulk-edge correspondence. In general, our results suggest that there are large Chern number phases with C = ±3 and the work enriches the research about large Chern numbers in multiband systems.     

Metal-insulator transition in the quarter-filled frustrated checkerboard lattice

We study the electronic structure and correlations in the geometrically frustrated two dimensional checkerboard lattice. In the large U limit considered here we start from an extended Hubbard model of spinless fermions at half-filling. We investigate the model within two distinct Greens function approaches: In the first approach a single-site representation decoupling scheme is used that includes the effect of nearest neighbor charge fluctuations. In the second approach a cluster representation leading to a multiorbital model is investigated which includes intra-cluster correlations more rigorously and those between clusters on a mean field basis. It is demonstrated that with increasing nearest-neighbor Coulomb interaction V both approaches lead to a metal-insulator transition with an associated Mott-Hubbard like gap caused by V. Within the single site approach we also explore the possibility of charge order. Furthermore we investigate the evolution of the quasiparticle bands as funtion of V.     

Metal-insulator transition in a system of superconducting vortices caused by a metallic gate

We address a recent experiment in which a strong decrease of the resistance of a superconducting film has been observed when a remote unbiased gate was placed above the film. Here we explain the experimental finding as a suppression of the vortex tunneling due to the orthogonality catastrophe of the electrons inside the gate. We interpret the change in the resistance of the film as a "metal-insulator" transition in the system of vortices induced by the gate.     

Metal-insulator transition in two- and three-dimensional logarithmic plasmas

We consider the scaling of the mean square dipole moment in a plasma with logarithmic interactions in a two- and three-dimensional systems. In both cases, we establish the existence of a low-temperature regime where the mean square dipole moment does not scale with system size and a high-temperature regime where it does scale with system size. Thus, there is a nonanalytic change in the polarizability of the system as a function of temperature and hence a metal-insulator transition in both cases. The relevance of this transition in three dimensions to quantum phase transitions in (2+1)-dimensional systems is briefly discussed.     

Eu2－xPbxRu2O7中的金属-绝缘体相变和自旋玻璃态行为

通过对Eu_2-xPb_xRu₂O₇(x=0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0和1.8)系列样品的结构、电阻和磁化率的观测，结果发现，随着Pb替代浓度x值的增加，样品的电阻率逐渐减小，系统在x=0.8附近发生了金属-绝缘体(M-I)相变；Ru⁴⁺的局域磁矩及其自旋玻璃冻结温度T_G也随之降低. 在该体系中，Pb²⁺对Eu³⁺的部分替代使样品中载流子浓度增加，Pb的6p能带与Ru 4d电子的T_2g能带混合，能带得以拓宽，Ru 4d电子的巡游性增强，导致该体系物性的系列变化. 关键词： 自旋几何受挫 2-xPb_xRu₂O₇体系')" href="#">Eu_2-xPb_xRu₂O₇体系 金属-绝缘体相变 自旋玻璃态     

Metal-insulator transition of solid halogens under pressure

Abstract

The band structure of solid bromine and chlorine have been calculated at different pressures. Our calculations predict that there is a closure of the gap in the direction perpendicular to the molecular planes at pressures around 150, 330 and 670 kbar for I₂, Br₂ and Cl₂ respectively.     

Eu2-xPbxRu2O7中的金属-绝缘体相变和自旋玻璃态行为

通过对Eu2-xPbxRu2O7(x=0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0和1.8)系列样品的结构、电阻和磁化率的观测,结果发现,随着Pb替代浓度x值的增加,样品的电阻率逐渐减小,系统在x=0.8附近发生了金属-绝缘体(M-I)相变;Ru4+的局域磁矩及其自旋玻璃冻结温度TG也随之降低. 在该体系中,Pb2+对Eu3+的部分替代使样品中载流子浓度增加,Pb的6p能带与Ru 4d电子的T2g能带混合,能带得以拓宽,Ru 4d电子的巡游性增强,导致该体系物性的系列变化.     

Metal-insulator transition induced by the magnetic field in n-type GaSb

The metal-insulator (MI) transition induced by a magnetic field was evidenced for the first time in compensated n-type GaSb layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The free electron densities were in the low 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ range or even slightly lower, so that the zero-field 3D electron gas was degenerate and, at the B_MI magnetic field of the MI transition, it populates only the spin-split 0⁽⁺⁾ Landau level (extreme quantum limit). On the metallic side of the MI transition a T^1/3 dependence of the conductivity was assumed to fit the low-T data and to estimate the B_MI value, which resulted of 9.1 T in the purest sample. The MI transition manifests in a strong increase of the diagonal resistivity with the magnetic field, but not of the Hall coefficient, suggesting that the apparent electron density is practically constant, whereas the mobility varies strongly. The evidence of a maximum in the temperature dependence of the Hall coefficient has been explained through a two channels transport mechanism involving localized and extended states.     

Metal-insulator transition in the Hubbard model with incommensurate magnetic structures

The metal-insulator transition for the square, simple cubic, and body centered cubic lattices has been studied within the Hubbard model at half-filling taking into account nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor electron hopping. Both staggered antiferromagnetic and incommensurate magnetic states (spin-spiral wave) have been considered. The inclusion of the latter states for the three-dimensional lattices does not change the general pattern of the metal-insulator transition, but opens the fundamentally new possibility of the metal-insulator transition of the first order between the magnetically ordered states for the square lattice.     

Metal-insulator transition and superconductivity in SnAr films

We studied the conductivity and superconducting transition temperature T_c of SnAr films. The films were prepared by condensing the SnAr mixture on a sapphire substrate held at 5 K. A plot of the conductivity as a function of Sn concentration shows a metal-insulator transition which agrees with a percolation model consisting of Sn clusters embedded in solid Ar. A drop of T_c is observed below the percolation threshold.     

Metal-insulator transition in hydrogen and in expanded alkali metals

Two methods are considered for testing the stability of an electron gas to formation of bound states round a pair of protons. In the first, the screened potential for the two protons is set up as a superposition, which is appropriate in a very high density electron gas. The condition for bound state formation is then examined in the two-centre problem. The density thus obtained is in the right density range to accord with the experiment of Hawke et al. for producing cold metallic hydrogen.This has encouraged us to attempt a more ambitious calculation, namely the investigation of the Heitler-London energy of a model H₂ molecule with screened electron-nuclear and electron-electron interactions, the screening being again through appropriate introduction of the Thomas-Fermi screening radius. The merit of this second model is that the theory contains the Heitler-London value of the dissociation energy of the free H₂ molecule in the limit when the density of the electron gas tends to zero. This feature, the binding energy of the diatomic and its importance in distinguishing the metal-insulator transition in hydrogen from those expected to occur in expanded alkali metals is stressed. The second point we stress is that, in both the models discussed above, there is a close connection with the one-centre criterion for bound state formation. Though we have not carried out detailed two-centre calculations for expanded alkali metals, nevertheless some discussion is given of the one-centre bound state criterion in these metals.Some remarks are also made on the dielectric function of molecular crystals, in relation to the insulator-metal transition.