Mott transition in CaFe 2 O 4 at around 50 GPa

Electrical transport and magnetic properties of CaFe2O4 have been studied at pressures up to 70 GPa using Fe57 Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS), Raman spectroscopy, and electrical resistance measurements. These studies have shown the onset of the Mott transition (MT) at a pressure of around 50 GPa, leading to the collapse of Fe3+ magnetic moments and to the insulator-metal (IM) transition. The observed onset of the MT corroborates with the recently reported isostructural transition accompanied by a 12% decrease in the Fe polyhedral volume. An analysis of the alterations of the electrical transport, magnetic, and structural properties with pressure increase and at the transition range suggests that the coinciding IM transition, magnetic moment, and volume collapse at around 50 GPa are caused by the closure of the Hubbard gap driven by the high-spin to low-spin (HS-LS) transition. At that, since MS did not reveal any evidence of a preceding LS state, it could be inferred that the HS-LS transition immediately leads to an IM transition and complete collapse of magnetism.