Quasi-continuous transition from a Fermi liquid to a spin liquid in κ-(ET)2Cu2(CN)3

Tetsuya Furukawa (), Kazuhiko Kobashi, Yosuke Kurosaki, Kazuya Miyagawa and Kazushi Kanoda ()
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Tetsuya Furukawa: University of Tokyo
Kazuhiko Kobashi: University of Tokyo
Yosuke Kurosaki: University of Tokyo
Kazuya Miyagawa: University of Tokyo
Kazushi Kanoda: University of Tokyo

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The Mott metal-insulator transition—a manifestation of Coulomb interactions among electrons—is known as a discontinuous transition. Recent theoretical studies, however, suggest that the transition is continuous if the Mott insulator carries a spin liquid with a spinon Fermi surface. Here, we demonstrate the case of a quasi-continuous Mott transition from a Fermi liquid to a spin liquid in an organic triangular-lattice system κ-(ET)2Cu2(CN)3. Transport experiments performed under fine pressure tuning have found that as the Mott transition is approached, the Fermi liquid coherence temperature continuously falls to the scale of kelvins, with a divergent quasi-particle decay rate on the metal side, and the charge gap continuously closes on the insulator side. A Clausius-Clapeyron analysis provides thermodynamic evidence for the extremely weak first-order nature of the transition. These results provide additional support for the existence of a spinon Fermi surface, which becomes an electron Fermi surface when charges are delocalized.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02679-7

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