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Title: Large Fermi Surface of Heavy Electrons at the Border of Mott Insulating State in NiS2

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep25335· OSTI ID:1282120
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Bristol, Bristol (United Kingdom). HH Wills Laboratory
  2. Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge (United Kingdom). Cavendish Laboratory
  3. Univ. of Central Lancashire, Preston (United Kingdom). Jeremiah Horrocks Inst. for Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy; Univ. of London, Egham (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics, Royal Holloway
  4. Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States). National High Magnetic Field Lab. (MagLab)

One early triumph of quantum physics is the explanation why some materials are metallic whereas others are insulating. While a treatment based on single electron states is correct for most materials this approach can fail spectacularly, when the electrostatic repulsion between electrons causes strong correlations. Not only can these favor new and subtle forms of matter, such as magnetism or superconductivity, they can even cause the electrons in a half-filled energy band to lock into position, producing a correlated, or Mott insulator. The transition into the Mott insulating state raises important fundamental questions. Foremost among these is the fate of the electronic Fermi surface and the associated charge carrier mass, as the Mott transition is approached. We report the first direct observation of the Fermi surface on the metallic side of a Mott insulating transition by high pressure quantum oscillatory measurements in NiS2. We find our results point at a large Fermi surface consistent with Luttinger's theorem and a strongly enhanced quasiparticle effective mass. These two findings are in line with central tenets of the Brinkman-Rice picture of the correlated metal near the Mott insulating state and rule out alternative scenarios in which the carrier concentration vanishes continuously at the metal-insulator transition.

Research Organization:
Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0001979; DMR-1157490; EP/K012894/1
OSTI ID:
1282120
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Vol. 6; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 22 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (4)

Strain-engineering Mott-insulating La2CuO4 journal February 2019
Silica Restricting the Sulfur Volatilization of Nickel Sulfide for High‐Performance Lithium‐Ion Batteries journal October 2019
Spectroscopic Studies on the Metal-Insulator Transition Mechanism in Correlated Materials journal May 2018
Strain-engineering Mott-insulating $La_2CuO_4$ text January 2019