Mott transition by an impulsive dielectric breakdown.
Nat Mater
; 16(11): 1100-1105, 2017 11.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28825731
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) 2Cu[N(CN) 2]Br (ETbis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene), collapses the original Mott gap of â¼30 meV with a â¼0.1 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.
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Bases de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Mater
Asunto de la revista:
CIENCIA
/
QUIMICA
Año:
2017
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Japón