Mott transition and magnetic collapse in iron-bearing compounds under high pressure

I. Leonov*, E. Greenberg, M. P. Belov, G. Kh Rozenberg, I. A. Abrikosov

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

We discuss the electronic, magnetic, and related structural transitions in the iron-based Mott insulators under high pressures relevant to the Earth's lower mantle conditions. The paper focuses on the above-mentioned topics based primarily on our theoretical analysis and various experimental studies employing synchrotron X-ray diffraction,57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, and electrical transport measurements. We review the main theoretical tools employed for the analysis of the properties of materials with strongly interacting electrons and discuss the problems of theoretical description of such systems. In particular, we discuss a state-of-the-art method for calculating the electronic structure of strongly correlated materials, the DFT + DMFT method, which merges standard band-structure techniques (DFT) with dynamical mean-field theory of correlated electrons (DMFT). We employ this method to study the pressure-induced magnetic collapse in Mott insulators, such as wüstite (FeO), magnesiowüstite (Fe1-x Mgx)O (x=0.25 and 0.75) and goethite (FeOOH), and explore the consequences of the magnetic collapse for the electronic structure and phase stability of these materials. We show that the paramagnetic cubic B1-structured FeO and (Fe,Mg)O and distorted orthorhombic (Pnma) FeOOH exhibit upon compression a high- to low-spin (HS-LS) transition, which is accompanied by a simultaneous collapse of local moments. However, the HS-LS transition is found to have different consequences for the electronic properties of these compounds. For FeO and (Fe0.75 Mg0.25)O, the transition is found to be accompanied by a Mott insulator-to-metal phase transition. In contrast to that, both (Fe0.25 Mg0.75)O and FeOOH remain insulating up to the highest studied pressures, indicating that a Mott insulator to band insulator phase transition takes place. Our combined theoretical and experimental studies indicate a crossover between localized to itinerant moment behavior to accompany magnetic collapse of Fe ions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)96-118
Number of pages23
JournalHigh Pressure Research
Volume37
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 3 Apr 2017

Funding

FundersFunder number
Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftTRR 80
Russian Foundation for Basic Research16-02-01027
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian FederationK3-2016-027
Linköpings Universitet2009 00971
Israel Science Foundation1189/14
Vetenskapsrådet2015-04391

    Keywords

    • Mott metal–insulator transition
    • Strong correlations
    • high pressure
    • spin-state transition
    • transition metal oxides

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