Large Fermi Surface of Heavy Electrons at the Border of Mott Insulating State in NiS2

Abstract

One of the early triumphs of quantum physics is the explanation why some materials are metallic whereas others are insulating. While a treatment based on single electron states correctly predicts the character of most materials this approach can fail spectacularly, when the electrostatic repulsion between electrons causes strong correlations. Not only can these favor new and subtle forms of order in metals, such as magnetism or superconductivity, they can even cause the electrons in a half-filled energy band to lock into position altogether, producing a correlated, or Mott insulator. Arguably the most extreme manifestation of electronic correlations in dense electronic matter, the transition into the Mott insulating state raises a number of fundamental questions. Foremost among these is the fate of the electronic Fermi surface and the associated charge carrier mass, as the Mott transition is approached at low temperature, which have been particularly controversial in the high temperature superconducting cuprates. We report the first direct observation of the Fermi surface on the metallic side of a Mott insulating transition by high pressure quantum oscillatory measurements in NiS2. Our results point at a large Fermi surface consistent with Luttinger's theorem and a strongly enhanced carrier effective mass, suggesting that electron localization occurs via a diverging effective mass and concomitant slowing down of charge carriers as predicted theoretically.