Seminario Prof. Paolo Postorino vincitore procedura valutativa per professore di I Fascia FIS/01 02B1 Title: Pressure driven insulator to metal transition: the roles of spontaneous symmetry breaking and dimensionality.
Ore 12.30
Prof. Paolo Postorino
vincitore procedura valutativa per professore di I Fascia FIS/01 02B1
Title: Pressure driven insulator to metal transition: the roles of spontaneous symmetry breaking and dimensionality.
Abstract: In the early days of quantum mechanics solid hydrogen was predicted to enter a metallic phase at high pressure.
After so long, metallic hydrogen is still a challenge, which, however, stimulated a considerable amount of
experimental and theoretical work on pressure driven insulator-to-metal transitions in a wide variety of systems.
Understanding the transition mechanisms, and specifically the charge delocalization process behind it, can be
really complex because of the many different interactions, including electron-electron, electron-phonon and
spin ordering which play a role. Here, I discuss the metallization process in different strongly correlated
systems that are reference examples for revealing the role of high pressure in condensed matter physics.
Tuning the effects of either the Peierls and Jahn-Teller symmetry breaking or the system dimensionality by
pressure is reviewed in Vanadium Oxides, Manganites and Transition Metal Dichalcogenides. Open questions
and future perspectives are outlined.
