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Mott transition by an impulsive dielectric breakdown.
- Source :
-
Nature materials [Nat Mater] 2017 Nov; Vol. 16 (11), pp. 1100-1105. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 Aug 21. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- The transition of a Mott insulator to metal, the Mott transition, can occur via carrier doping by elemental substitution, and by photoirradiation, as observed in transition-metal compounds and in organic materials. Here, we show that the application of a strong electric field can induce a Mott transition by a new pathway, namely through impulsive dielectric breakdown. Irradiation of a terahertz electric-field pulse on an ET-based compound, κ-(ET) <subscript>2</subscript> Cu[N(CN) <subscript>2</subscript> ]Br (ET:bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene), collapses the original Mott gap of ∼30 meV with a ∼0.1 ps time constant after doublon-holon pair productions by quantum tunnelling processes, as indicated by the nonlinear increase of Drude-like low-energy spectral weights. Additionally, we demonstrate metallization using this method is faster than that by a femtosecond laser-pulse irradiation and that the transition dynamics are more electronic and coherent. Thus, strong terahertz-pulse irradiation is an effective approach to achieve a purely electronic Mott transition, enhancing the understanding of its quantum nature.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1476-4660
- Volume :
- 16
- Issue :
- 11
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Nature materials
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 28825731
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4967