Instability of Insulators near Quantum Phase Transitions

A. Doron, I. Tamir, T. Levinson, M. Ovadia, B. Sacépé, and D. Shahar
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 247001 – Published 13 December 2017
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Abstract

Thin films of amorphous indium oxide undergo a magnetic field driven superconducting to insulator quantum phase transition. In the insulating phase, the current-voltage characteristics show large current discontinuities due to overheating of electrons. We show that the onset voltage for the discontinuities vanishes as we approach the quantum critical point. As a result, the insulating phase becomes unstable with respect to any applied voltage making it, at least experimentally, immeasurable. We emphasize that unlike previous reports of the absence of linear response near quantum phase transitions, in our system, the departure from equilibrium is discontinuous. Because the conditions for these discontinuities are satisfied in most insulators at low temperatures, and due to the decay of all characteristic energy scales near quantum phase transitions, we believe that this instability is general and should occur in various systems while approaching their quantum critical point. Accounting for this instability is crucial for determining the critical behavior of systems near the transition.

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  • Received 24 June 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.247001

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

A. Doron1,*, I. Tamir1, T. Levinson1, M. Ovadia1,2,†, B. Sacépé2, and D. Shahar1

  • 1Department of Condensed Matter Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
  • 2Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, Institut Néel, 38000 Grenoble, France

  • *Corresponding author. adam.doron@weizmann.ac.il
  • Present address: Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 24 — 15 December 2017

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