Observation of Mott instability at the valence transition of f-electron system

DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwad035

Authors: Haifeng Yang (ShanghaiTech University) , Jingjing Gao (Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Science and Technology of China) , Yingying Cao (Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences) , Yuanji Xu (Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) , Aiji Liang (ShanghaiTech University; ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics) , Xiang Xu (Tsinghua University) , Yujie Chen (Tsinghua University) , Shuai Liu (ShanghaiTech University) , Kui Huang (ShanghaiTech University) , Lixuan Xu (Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences) , Chengwei Wang (Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences) , Shengtao Cui (ShanghaiTech University) , Meixiao Wang (ShanghaiTech University; ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics) , Lexian Yang (Tsinghua University) , Xuan Luo (Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) , Yuping Sun (nstitute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Nanjing University) , Yi-Feng Yang (Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory) , Zhongkai Liu (ShanghaiTech University; ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics) , Yulin Chen (ShanghaiTech University; ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physic; University of Oxford)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: National Science Review

State: Published (Approved)
Published: February 2023

Abstract: Mott physics plays a critical role in materials with strong electronic correlations. Mott insulator-to-metal transition can be driven by chemical doping, external pressure, temperature and gate voltage, which is often seen in transition metal oxides with 3d electrons near the Fermi energy (e.g. cuprate superconductor). In 4f-electron system, however, the insulator-to-metal transition is mostly driven by Kondo hybridization and the Mott physics has rarely been explored in experiments. Here, by combining the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and strongly correlated band structure calculations, we show that an unusual Mott instability exists in YbInCu4 accompanying its mysterious first-order valence transition. This contrasts with the prevalent Kondo picture and demonstrates that YbInCu4 is a unique platform to explore the Mott physics in Kondo lattice systems. Our work provides important insight for the understanding and manipulation of correlated quantum phenomena in the f-electron system.

Journal Keywords: Valence transition; orbital-selective Mott transition; Kondo coupling; heavy fermions; strong correlations; ARPES; DMFT

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


Instruments: I05-ARPES

Other Facilities: 5-2 at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource; 10 at ALS; BL03U at BL03U of Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility; BL13U at National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory

Added On: 06/03/2023 08:42

Documents:
nwad035.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Superconductors Quantum Materials Physics Materials Science

Technical Tags:

Spectroscopy Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES)