Showing papers on "Mott insulator published in 2006"

Doping a Mott insulator: Physics of high-temperature superconductivity

Abstract: This article reviews the physics of high-temperature superconductors from the point of view of the doping of a Mott insulator. The basic electronic structure of cuprates is reviewed, emphasizing the physics of strong correlation and establishing the model of a doped Mott insulator as a starting point. A variety of experiments are discussed, focusing on the region of the phase diagram close to the Mott insulator (the underdoped region) where the behavior is most anomalous. The normal state in this region exhibits pseudogap phenomenon. In contrast, the quasiparticles in the superconducting state are well defined and behave according to theory. This review introduces Anderson's idea of the resonating valence bond and argues that it gives a qualitative account of the data. The importance of phase fluctuations is discussed, leading to a theory of the transition temperature, which is driven by phase fluctuations and the thermal excitation of quasiparticles. However, an argument is made that phase fluctuations can only explain pseudogap phenomenology over a limited temperature range, and some additional physics is needed to explain the onset of singlet formation at very high temperatures. A description of the numerical method of the projected wave function is presented, which turns out to be a very useful technique for implementing the strong correlation constraint and leads to a number of predictions which are in agreement with experiments. The remainder of the paper deals with an analytic treatment of the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}J$ model, with the goal of putting the resonating valence bond idea on a more formal footing. The slave boson is introduced to enforce the constraint againt double occupation and it is shown that the implementation of this local constraint leads naturally to gauge theories. This review follows the historical order by first examining the U(1) formulation of the gauge theory. Some inadequacies of this formulation for underdoping are discussed, leading to the SU(2) formulation. Here follows a rather thorough discussion of the role of gauge theory in describing the spin-liquid phase of the undoped Mott insulator. The difference between the high-energy gauge group in the formulation of the problem versus the low-energy gauge group, which is an emergent phenomenon, is emphasized. Several possible routes to deconfinement based on different emergent gauge groups are discussed, which leads to the physics of fractionalization and spin-charge separation. Next the extension of the SU(2) formulation to nonzero doping is described with a focus on a part of the mean-field phase diagram called the staggered flux liquid phase. It will be shown that inclusion of the gauge fluctuation provides a reasonable description of the pseudogap phase. It is emphasized that $d$-wave superconductivity can be considered as evolving from a stable U(1) spin liquid. These ideas are applied to the high-${T}_{c}$ cuprates, and their implications for the vortex structure and the phase diagram are discussed. A possible test of the topological structure of the pseudogap phase is described.

Quantum phase transitions of light

Abstract: The ability to conduct experiments at length scales and temperatures at which interesting and potentially useful quantum-mechanical phenomena emerge in condensed-matter or atomic systems is now commonplace. In optics, though, the weakness with which photons interact with each other makes exploring such behaviour more difficult. Here we describe an optical system that exhibits strongly correlated dynamics on a mesoscopic scale. By adding photons to a two-dimensional array of coupled optical cavities each containing a single two-level atom in the photon-blockade regime, we form dressed states, or polaritons, that are both long-lived and strongly interacting. Our results predict that at zero temperature the system will undergo a characteristic Mott insulator (excitations localized on each site) to superfluid (excitations delocalized across the lattice) quantum phase transition. Moreover, the ability to couple light to and from individual cavities of this system could be useful in the realization of tuneable quantum simulators and other quantum-mechanical devices.

Time evolution of the electronic structure of 1T-TaS2 through the insulator-metal transition.

Abstract: Femtosecond time-resolved photoemission is used to investigate the time evolution of electronic structure in the Mott insulator 1T-TaS2. A collapse of the electronic gap is observed within 100 femtoseconds after optical excitation. The photoemission spectra and the spectral function calculated by dynamical mean field theory show that this insulator-metal transition is driven solely by hot electrons. A coherently excited lattice displacement results in a periodic shift of the spectra lasting for 20 ps without perturbing the insulating phase. This capability to disentangle electronic and phononic excitations opens new directions to study electron correlation in solids.

Charge localization or itineracy at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces: Hole polarons, oxygen vacancies, and mobile electrons

Abstract: While correlated electron behavior is to be expected at oxide interfaces (IFs) involving Mott insulators, we show how strong correlations in the oxygen 2p states may be necessary to account for observed insulating behavior at charged (001)-IFs between the band insulators LaAl O3 and SrTi O3. Using correlated band theory applied to the O 2p states, an insulating p -type IF is obtained only when a disproportionated, charge-, orbital-, and spin-ordered O Pπ magnetic hole is formed, centered between Al3+ ions in the Al O2 layer at the IF. As an alternative explanation, charge compensation by oxygen vacancies that accommodate the holes as charge-conjugate F centers is modeled. For the n -type IF, a charge disproportionated Ti4+ + Ti3+ layer is obtained with ferromagnetic alignment of the spins resulting from occupied dxy orbitals at checkerboard arranged Ti3+ sites. Electron hopping on a 50\% occupied Ti sublattice (a quarter-filled band) and/or lattice relaxations are discussed as origin of the measured conductivity.

Nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory.

Abstract: The many-body formalism for dynamical mean-field theory is extended to treat nonequilibrium problems. We illustrate how the formalism works by examining the transient decay of the oscillating current that is driven by a large electric field turned on at time $t=0$. We show how the Bloch oscillations are quenched by the electron-electron interactions, and how their character changes dramatically for a Mott insulator.

Pseudogap induced by short-range spin correlations in a doped Mott insulator

Abstract: We study the evolution of a Mott-Hubbard insulator into a correlated metal upon doping in the two-dimensional Hubbard model using the cellular dynamical mean-field theory. Short-range spin correlations create two additional bands apart from the familiar Hubbard bands in the spectral function. Even a tiny doping into this insulator causes a jump of the Fermi energy to one of these additional bands and an immediate momentum-dependent suppression of the spectral weight at this Fermi energy. The pseudogap is closely tied to the existence of these bands. This suggests a strong-coupling mechanism that arises from short-range spin correlations and large scattering rates for the pseudogap phenomenon seen in several cuprates.

Imaging the mott insulator shells by using atomic clock shifts

Abstract: Microwave spectroscopy was used to probe the superfluid-Mott insulator transition of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a three-dimensional optical lattice. By using density-dependent transition frequency shifts, we were able to spectroscopically distinguish sites with different occupation numbers and to directly image sites with occupation numbers from one to five, revealing the shell structure of the Mott insulator phase. We used this spectroscopy to determine the onsite interaction and lifetime for individual shells.

Formation of spatial shell structure in the superfluid to Mott insulator transition.

Abstract: We report on the direct observation of the transition from a compressible superfluid to an incompressible Mott insulator by recording the in-trap density distribution of a Bosonic quantum gas in an optical lattice. Using spatially selective microwave transitions and spin-changing collisions, we are able to locally modify the spin state of the trapped quantum gas and record the spatial distribution of lattice sites with different filling factors. As the system evolves from a superfluid to a Mott insulator, we observe the formation of a distinct shell structure, in good agreement with theory.

Resonant control of spin dynamics in ultracold quantum gases by microwave dressing

Abstract: We study experimentally interaction-driven spin oscillations in optical lattices in the presence of an off-resonant microwave field. We show that the energy shift induced by this microwave field can be used to control the spin oscillations by tuning the system either into resonance to achieve near-unity contrast or far away from resonance to suppress the oscillations. Finally, we propose a scheme based on this technique to create a flat sample with either singly or doubly occupied sites, starting from an inhomogeneous Mott insulator, where singly and doubly occupied sites coexist.

Imaging the Mott insulator shells using atomic clock shifts

Abstract: Microwave spectroscopy was used to probe the superfluid–Mott insulator transition of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a three-dimensional optical lattice. By using density-dependent transition frequency shifts, we were able to spectroscopically distinguish sites with different occupation numbers and to directly image sites with occupation numbers from one to five, revealing the shell structure of the Mott insulator phase. We used this spectroscopy to determine the onsite interaction and lifetime for individual shells.

Realistic investigations of correlated electron systems with LDA + DMFT†

Abstract: Conventional band structure calculations in the local density approximation (LDA) [1–3] are highly successful for many materials, but miss important aspects of the physics and energetics of strongly correlated electron systems, such as transition metal oxides and f-electron systems displaying, e.g., Mott insulating and heavy quasiparticle behavior. In this respect, the LDA + DMFT approach which merges LDA with a modern many-body approach, the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT), has proved to be a breakthrough for the realistic modeling of correlated materials. Depending on the strength of the electronic correlation, a LDA + DMFT calculation yields the weakly correlated LDA results, a strongly correlated metal, or a Mott insulator. In this paper, the basic ideas and the set-up of the LDA + DMFT(X) approach, where X is the method used to solve the DMFT equations, are discussed. Results obtained with X = QMC (quantum Monte Carlo) and X = NCA (non-crossing approximation) are presented and compared, showing that the method X matters quantitatively. We also discuss LDA + DMFT results for two prime examples of correlated materials, i.e., V2O3 and Ce which undergo a Mott–Hubbard metal–insulator and volume collapse transition, respectively. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

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

Abstract: 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 ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}/t=0.3--0.7$ or between a nonmagnetic Mott insulator (spin liquid) and a metal for ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}/t\ensuremath{\ge}0.8$, in agreement with experiments on layered organic conductors including $\ensuremath{\kappa}\mathrm{\text{\ensuremath{-}}}(\mathrm{ET}{)}_{2}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{2}(\mathrm{CN}{)}_{3}$. These phases are separated by a strong first-order transition. The phase diagram gives much insight into the mechanism for $d$-wave superconductivity. Two predictions are made.

Fermi arcs and hidden zeros of the Green function in the pseudogap state

Abstract: We investigate the low-energy properties of a correlated metal in the proximity of a Mott insulator within the Hubbard model in two dimensions. We introduce a version of the cellular dynamical mean-field theory using cumulants as the basic irreducible objects. The cumulants are used for reconstructing the lattice quantities from their cluster counterparts. The zero-temperature one-particle Green function is characterized by the appearance of lines of zeros, in addition to a Fermi surface which changes topology as a function of doping. We show that these features are intimately connected to the opening of a pseudogap in the one-particle spectrum and provide a simple picture for the appearance of Fermi arcs.

Gapless quantum spin liquid, stripe, and antiferromagnetic phases in frustrated Hubbard models in two dimensions

Abstract: Unique features of the nonmagnetic insulator phase are revealed, and the phase diagram of the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ Hubbard model containing the diagonal transfers ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ on a square lattice is presented. Using the path-integral renormalization group method, we find an antiferromagnetic phase for small next-nearest-neighbor transfer ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ and a stripe (or collinear) phase for large ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ in the Mott insulating region of the strong on-site interaction $U$. For intermediate ${t}^{\ensuremath{'}}∕t\ensuremath{\sim}0.7$ at large $U∕tg7$, we find a longer-period antiferromagnetic-insulator phase with $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}4$ structure. In the Mott insulating region, we also find a quantum spin liquid (in other words, a nonmagnetic insulator) phase near the Mott transition to paramagnetic metals for the $t\text{\ensuremath{-}}{t}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ Hubbard model on the square lattice as well as on the anisotropic triangular lattice. Correlated electrons often crystallize to the Mott insulator usually with some magnetic orders, whereas the ``quantum spin liquid" has been a long-sought issue. We report numerical evidence that a nonmagnetic insulating phase gets stabilized near the Mott transition with remarkable properties: The two-dimensional Mott insulators on geometrically frustrated lattices contain a phase with gapless spin excitations and degeneracy of the ground state in the whole Brillouin zone of the total momentum. The obtained vanishing spin renormalization factor suggests that spin excitations do not propagate coherently in contrast to conventional phases, where there exist either magnons in symmetry-broken phases or particle-hole excitations in paramagnetic metals. It imposes a constraint on the possible pictures of quantum spin liquids and supports an interpretation for the existence of an unconventional quantum liquid. The present concept is useful in analyzing a variety of experimental results in frustrated magnets including organic BEDT-TTF compounds and $^{3}\mathrm{He}$ atoms adsorbed on graphite.

Probing number squeezing of ultracold atoms across the superfluid-mott insulator transition

Abstract: The evolution of on-site number fluctuations of ultracold atoms in optical lattices is experimentally investigated by monitoring the suppression of spin-changing collisions across the superfluid-Mott insulator transition. For low atom numbers, corresponding to an average filling factor close to unity, large on-site number fluctuations are necessary for spin-changing collisions to occur. The continuous suppression of spin-changing collisions is thus direct evidence for the emergence of number-squeezed states. In the Mott insulator regime, we find that spin-changing collisions are suppressed until a threshold atom number, consistent with the number where a Mott plateau with doubly occupied sites is expected to form.

Can Correlations Drive a Band Insulator Metallic

Abstract: We analyze the effects of the on-site Coulomb repulsion U on a band insulator using dynamical mean field theory (DMFT). We find the surprising result that the gap is suppressed to zero at a critical Uc1 and remains zero within a metallic phase. At a larger Uc2 there is a second transition from the metal to a Mott insulator, in which the gap increases with increasing U. These results are qualitatively different from Hartree-Fock theory which gives a monotonically decreasing but nonzero insulating gap for all finite U.

Fermi arcs and hidden zeros of the Green function in the pseudogap state

Abstract: We investigate the low-energy properties of a correlated metal in the proximity of a Mott insulator within the Hubbard model in two dimensions. We introduce a version of the cellular dynamical mean-field theory using cumulants as the basic irreducible objects. The cumulants are used for reconstructing the lattice quantities from their cluster counterparts. The zero-temperature one-particle Green function is characterized by the appearance of lines of zeros, in addition to a Fermi surface which changes topology as a function of doping. We show that these features are intimately connected to the opening of a pseudogap in the one-particle spectrum and provide a simple picture for the appearance of Fermi arcs.

Spin-orbital entanglement and violation of the Goodenough-Kanamori rules.

Abstract: We point out that large composite spin-orbital fluctuations in Mott insulators with t(2g) orbital degeneracy are a manifestation of quantum entanglement of spin and orbital variables. This results in a dynamical nature of the spin superexchange interactions, which fluctuate over positive and negative values, and leads to an apparent violation of the Goodenough-Kanamori rules.

Mott Transition in Kagome Lattice Hubbard Model

Abstract: We investigate the Mott transition in the kagome lattice Hubbard model using a cluster extension of dynamical mean field theory. The calculation of the double occupancy, the density of states, and the static and dynamical spin correlation functions demonstrates that the system undergoes the first-order Mott transition at the Hubbard interaction U/W approximately 1.4 (W:bandwidth). In the metallic phase close to the Mott transition, we find the strong renormalization of three distinct bands, giving rise to the formation of heavy quasiparticles with strong frustrated interactions. It is elucidated that the quasiparticle states exhibit anomalous behavior in the temperature-dependent spin correlation functions.

LaMnO3∕SrMnO3 interfaces with coupled charge-spin-orbital modulation

Abstract: The artificial perovskite superlattices composed of LaMnO3 and SrMnO3 have been investigated to elucidate the interface electronic phases created by adjoining the two Mott insulators. Charge transfer at the interface due to chemical potential difference, as observed in p-n junctions of semiconductors, can realize metallic ferromagnet instead of resulting in insulating depletion layer. The interface electronic phases strongly depend on the orbital states at the interface which can be tuned by epitaxial strain.

Tuning the mott transition in a bose-einstein condensate by multiple photon absorption

Abstract: We study the time-dependent dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in an optical lattice. Modeling the system as a Bose-Hubbard model, we show how applying a periodic driving field can induce coherent destruction of tunneling. In the low-frequency regime, we obtain the novel result that the destruction of tunneling displays extremely sharp peaks when the driving frequency is resonant with the depth of the trapping potential ("multi-photon resonances"), which allows the quantum phase transition between the Mott insulator and the superfluid state to be controlled with high precision. We further show how the waveform of the field can be chosen to maximize this effect.

Modulation spectroscopy with ultracold fermions in an optical lattice

Abstract: We propose an experimental setup of ultracold fermions in an optical lattice to determine the pairing gap in a superfluid state and the spin ordering in a Mott-insulating state. The idea is to apply a periodic modulation of the lattice potential and to use the thereby induced double occupancy to probe the system. We show by full time-dependent calculation using the adaptive time-dependent density-matrix renormalization-group method that the position of the peak in the spectrum of the induced double occupancy gives the pairing energy in a superfluid and the interaction energy in a Mott insulator, respectively. In the Mott insulator we relate the spectral weight of the peak to the spin ordering at finite temperature using perturbative calculations.

Mean-field phase diagram of disordered bosons in a lattice at nonzero temperature

Abstract: Bosons in a periodic lattice with on-site disorder at low but nonzero temperatures are considered within a mean-field theory. The criteria used for the definition of the superfluid, Mott insulator and Bose glass are analysed. Since the compressibility never vanishes at nonzero temperatures, it cannot be used as a general criterion. We show that the phases are unambiguously distinguished by the superfluid density and the density of states of the low-energy excitations. The phase diagram of the system is calculated. It is shown that even a tiny temperature leads to a significant shift of the boundary between the Bose glass and superfluid.

Exact study of the one-dimensional boson hubbard model with a superlattice potential

Abstract: We use quantum Monte Carlo simulations and exact diagonalization to explore the phase diagram of the Bose-Hubbard model with an additional superlattice potential. We first analyze the properties of superfluid and insulating phases present in the hard-core limit where an exact analytic treatment is possible via the Jordan-Wigner transformation. The extension to finite on-site interactions is achieved by means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We determine insulator and superfluid phase diagrams as functions of the on-site repulsive interaction, superlattice potential strength, and filling, finding that insulators with fractional occupation numbers, which are present in the hard-core case, extend deep into the soft-core region. Furthermore, at integer fillings, we find that the competition between the on-site repulsion and the superlattice potential can produce a phase transition between a Mott insulator and a charge-density-wave insulator, with an intermediate superfluid phase. Our results are relevant to the behavior of ultracold atoms in optical superlattices which are beginning to be studied experimentally.

The magnetic structure and electronic ground states of mott insulators GeV4S8 and GaV4S8

Abstract: The ground states of magnetic Mott insulators GaV4S8 and GeV4S8 were calculated with full-potential LAPW methods using the LDA + U approach. Both compounds undergo structural distortions from cubic to rhombohedral (GaV4S8) or orthorhombic (GeV4S8) symmetry at low temperatures. GaV4S8 is ferromagnetic below TC = 10 K, whereas GeV4S8 shows antiferromagnetic order with TN = 13 K. The spin structure of GeV4S8 was determined by neutron diffraction and described in the magnetic space group Pbmn21. The magnetic propagation vector is [1/2, 1/2, 0] relating to the cubic paramagnetic unit cell. The LDA + U calculations (U = 2 eV) confirm the magnetic insulating ground states for the first time with magnetic moments and energy gaps in very good agreement with the experimental data. This method also reproduces the antiferromagnetic spin ordering of GeV4S8. The Jahn−Teller instability of the degenerated levels in the V4 cluster MO drives the structural distortions, depending on the cluster electron count. Our results ...

Ultrafast Phase Control in One-Dimensional Correlated Electron Systems

Abstract: One-dimensional (1D) correlated electron systems are good targets for the exploration of photoinduced phase transitions (PIPTs). This is because photocarrier generations and/or charge transfer (CT) excitations by lights can stimulate instabilities inherent to the 1D nature of electronic states through strong electron–electron interactions and electron(spin)–lattice interactions. In this paper, we review the ultrafast dynamics of three typical PIPTs observed in 1D correlated electron systems: 1) a photoinduced transition from a Mott insulator to a metal in a halogen-bridged Ni-chain compound, [Ni(chxn) 2 Br]Br 2 (chxn = cyclohexanediamine); 2) a photoinduced melting of a spin-Peierls phase in an organic CT compound, K-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ); 3) a photoinduced transition between neutral (N) and ionic (I) states in an organic CT compound, tetrathiafulvalene- p -chloranil (TTF-CA). The primary dynamics of these PIPTs are discussed on the basis of the results of femtosecond pump–probe spectroscopy.

Theory of quantum impurities in spin liquids

Abstract: We describe spin correlations in the vicinity of a generalized impurity in a wide class of fractionalized spin liquid states. We argue that the primary characterization of the impurity is its electric charge under the gauge field describing singlet excitations in the spin liquid. We focus on two gapless $U(1)$ spin liquids described by $(2+1)$-dimensional conformal field theories (CFT): the staggered flux (sF) spin liquid, and the deconfined critical point between the N\'eel and valence-bond-solid (VBS) states. In these cases, the electric charge is argued to be an exactly marginal perturbation of the CFT. Consequently, the impurity susceptibility has a $1∕T$ temperature dependence, with an anomalous Curie constant, which is a universal number associated with the CFT. One unexpected feature of the CFT of the sF state is that an applied magnetic field does not induce any staggered spin polarization in the vicinity of the impurity (while such a staggered magnetization is present for the N\'eel-VBS case). These results differ significantly from earlier theories of vacancies in the sF state, and we explicitly demonstrate how our gauge theory corrects these works. We discuss implications of our results for the cuprate superconductors, organic Mott insulators, and graphene.

Energy absorption of a Bose gas in a periodically modulated optical lattice

Abstract: We compute the energy absorbed by a one-dimensional system of cold bosonic atoms in an optical lattice subjected to lattice amplitude modulation periodic with time. We perform the calculation for the superfluid and the Mott insulator created by a weak lattice, and the Mott insulator in a strong lattice potential. For the latter case we show results for three-dimensional systems as well. Our calculations, based on bosonization techniques and strong-coupling methods, go beyond standard Bogoliubov theory. We show that the energy absorption rate exhibits distinctive features of low-dimensional systems and Luttinger liquid physics. We compare our results with experiments and find good agreement.

Observation of a Mott Insulating Ground State for Sn / Ge ( 111 ) at Low Temperature

Abstract: We report an investigation on the properties of 0.33 ML of Sn on Ge(111) at temperatures down to 5 K. Low-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy show that the (3 x 3) phase formed at similar to 200 K, reverts to a new (root 3 x root 3)R30 degrees phase below 30 K. The vertical distortion characteristic of the (3 x 3) phase is lost across the phase transition, which is fully reversible. Angle-resolved photoemission experiments show that, concomitantly with the structural phase transition, a metal-insulator phase transition takes place. The (root 3 x root 3)R30 degrees ground state is interpreted as the formation of a Mott insulator for a narrow half-filled band in a two-dimensional triangular lattice.

Unconventional strongly interacting bose-einstein condensates in optical lattices.

Abstract: Feschbach resonances in a non-s-wave channel of two-component bosonic mixtures can induce atomic Bose-Einstein condensates with a nonzero orbital momentum in the optical lattice, if one component is in the Mott insulator state and the other is not. Such non-s-wave condensates break the symmetry of the lattice and, in some cases, time-reversal symmetry. They can be revealed in specific absorption imaging patterns.