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Title: Non-Fermi liquid to charge-transfer Mott insulator in flat bands of copper-doped lead apatite
Copper-doped lead apatite, called LK-99, was initially claimed to be a room temperature superconductor driven by flat electron bands, but was later found to be a wide gap insulator. Despite the lack of room temperature superconductivity, there is growing evidence that LK-99 and related compounds host various strong electron correlation phenomena arising from their flat electron bands. Depending on the copper doping site and crystal structure, LK-99 can exhibit two distinct flat bands crossing the Fermi level in the non-interacting limit: either a single or two entangled flat bands. We explore potential correlated metallic and insulating phases in the flat bands of LK-99 compounds by constructing their correlation phase diagrams, and find both non-Fermi liquid and Mott insulating states. We demonstrate that LK-99 is a charge-transfer Mott insulator driven by strong electron correlations, regardless of the flat band type. We also find that the non-Fermi liquid state in the multi-flat band system exhibits strange metal behaviour, while the corresponding state in the single flat band system exhibits pseudogap behaviour. Our findings align with available experimental observations and provide crucial insights into the correlation phenomenology of LK-99 and related compounds that could arise independently of superconductivity. Overall, our research highlights that LK-99 and related compounds offer a compelling platform for investigating correlation physics in flat band systems.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2233892
PAR ID:
10573006
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
The Royal Society of Chemistry
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Materials Horizons
Volume:
11
Issue:
22
ISSN:
2051-6347
Page Range / eLocation ID:
5622 to 5630
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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