New quantum switch turns metals into insulators

EurekAlert  February 3, 2020
In a Mott insulator free flow of electrons is facilitated by reducing the strength of the repulsive interaction between electrons, or by changing the number of electrons. An international team of researchers (Canada, Germany, Switzerland, USA – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Ohio State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, South Korea)
explored a way to alter the very quantum nature of the material to enable a metal-insulator transition to occur. They found that in Sr2IrO4 coupling the spin to the orbital angular momentum slows the electrons down to such an extent that they become sensitive to one another’s presence, solidifying the traffic jam of electrons. By reducing spin-orbit coupling eased the traffic jam and thus they demonstrated a transition from an insulator to a metal. The finding helps to further explore known properties such as conductivity, magnetism and superconductivity, and discover new ones that could be important for quantum computing, data storage and energy applications…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE

The dark colours represent electrons that are free to move through the material and are an indicator of the conductive behaviour. Credit: Berend Zwartsenberg/SBQMI

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