Electric-Field-Driven Resistive Switching in the Dissipative Hubbard Model

Jiajun Li, Camille Aron, Gabriel Kotliar, and Jong E. Han

Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 226403 – Published 4 June 2015

Abstract

We study how strongly correlated electrons on a dissipative lattice evolve out of equilibrium under a constant electric field, focusing on the extent of the linear regime and hysteretic nonlinear effects at higher fields. We access the nonequilibrium steady states, nonperturbatively in both the field and the electronic interactions, by means of a nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory in the Coulomb gauge. The linear response regime, limited by Joule heating, breaks down at fields much smaller than the quasiparticle energy scale. For large electronic interactions, strong but experimentally accessible electric fields can induce a resistive switching by driving the strongly correlated metal into a Mott insulator. We predict a nonmonotonic upper switching field due to an interplay of particle renormalization and the field-driven temperature. Hysteretic $I − V$ curves suggest that the nonequilibrium current is carried through a spatially inhomogeneous metal-insulator mixed state.

Received 1 October 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.226403

Authors & Affiliations

Jiajun Li¹, Camille Aron^2,3, Gabriel Kotliar², and Jong E. Han^1,*

¹Department of Physics, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
²Department of Physics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA
³Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, New Jersey 08455, USA

^*jonghan@buffalo.edu

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Issue

Vol. 114, Iss. 22 — 5 June 2015

Reuse & Permissions

Access Options

Article Available via CHORUS

Download Accepted Manuscript

Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Images

Figure 1
Electric current (per spin) $J$ vs electric field $E$ . (a) 1D chain with damping $Γ = 0.0625 W$ and fermion bath temperature $T_{b} = 0.001 25 W$ with the 1D TB bandwidth $W = 4 γ$ . The linear conductance in the small field limit (magnified in the inset) is the same for noninteracting ( $U = 0$ ) and interacting ( $U = 1.5 W$ ) models. After the conductivity deviates from the linear response behavior, inelastic contributions appear at $E = U / 2$ and $E = U$ . (b) 3D lattice with $Γ = 0.0083 W$ and $T_{b} = 0.000 42 W$ with the 3D TB bandwidth $W = 12 γ$ . The main features remain similar to the 1D case. All following energies are in units of $W$ , unless otherwise mentioned.
Reuse & Permissions
Figure 2
(a) Interacting scattering rate, $τ_{U}^{- 1} = - Im Σ_{U}^{r} (ω = 0)$ , plotted against $(E / Γ)^{2}$ . Different colors denote different damping $Γ = 0.0125, \dots, 0.06$ with the interval of 0.0025. For small ( $E / Γ$ ), the numerical results on the 1D chain collapse on well-defined lines at $U = 1$ and 1.5. The dashed lines are predictions based on the equilibrium self-energy with the temperature replaced by the noninteracting effective temperature $T_{eff}$ given in Eq. (8). The remarkable agreement proves that Joule heating controls the scattering in the small field limit. (b) Comparison of the current and the Drude formula estimate with the total scattering rate $Γ + τ_{U}^{- 1}$ , with qualitative agreement beyond the linear response limit.
Reuse & Permissions
Figure 3
(a) Electric-field-driven metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) in the vicinity of a Mott-insulator at $U = 1.225$ , $Γ = 0.001 67$ and $T_{b} = 0.0025$ in a 3D cubic lattice with the electric field in the $x$ direction. The metallic state at zero field becomes insulating at an electric field of magnitude orders of magnitude smaller than bare energy scales. Depending on whether the electric field is increased or decreased, metal-insulator hysteresis occurs with a window for phase-coexistence. (b) Spectral function and distribution function $f_{loc} (ω)$ with an increasing electric field. The quasiparticle (QP) spectral weight rapidly disappears near the MIT driven by the electric field, opening an insulating gap. The nonequilibrium energy distribution function indicates that the system undergoes a highly nonmonotonic cold-hot-cold temperature evolution near the MIT.
Reuse & Permissions
Figure 4
Phase diagram of the metal-insulator transition in a cubic lattice driven by (a) electric field and (b) temperature. The metal-insulator coexistent phase exists between the metal-to-insulator transition (black line) with increasing $E$ or $T_{b}$ , and the insulator-to-metal transition (red line) with decreasing $E$ or $T_{b}$ . $Γ = 0.001 67$ . (c) Effective temperature $T_{eff}$ map with increasing $E$ , with the white line for the MIT. The white dashed line becomes the phase boundary with a decreasing field. (d) Spectral and distribution functions for strong $U$ beyond the crossover line [black dashed line in (c)]. Quasiparticle states are disconnected from incoherent spectra and their statistical property becomes strongly nonthermal.
Reuse & Permissions

Physical Review Letters