2023/08/19 by Dimitar Pashov, Pashov, Dimitar, Swagata Acharya +7
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Crystal Structures and Properties #FOS: Physical sciences #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con) #Zeolite Catalysis and Synthesis
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.09900
openalex publication_date 2023/08/19 · openalex created_date 2023/08/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
LK-99, with chemical formula Pb10-xCux(PO4)6O, was recently reported to be a room-temperature superconductor. While this claim has met with little support in a flurry of ensuing work, a variety of calculations (mostly based on density-functional theory) have demonstrated that the system possesses some unusual characteristics in the electronic structure, in particular flat bands. We have established previously that within DFT, the system is insulating with many characteristics resembling the classic cuprates, provided the structure is not constrained to the P3(143) symmetry nominally assigned to it. Here we describe the basic electronic structure of LK-99 within self-consistent many-body perturbative approach, quasiparticle self-consistent GW (QSGW) approximation and their diagrammatic extensions. QSGW predicts that pristine LK-99 is indeed a Mott/charge transfer insulator, with a bandgap gap in excess of 3eV, whether or not constrained to the P3(143) symmetry. The highest valence bands occur as a pair, and look similar to DFT bands. The lowest conduction band is an almost dispersionless state of largely Cu d character. When Pb9Cu(PO4)6O is hole-doped, the valence bands modify only slightly, and a hole pocket appears. However, two solutions emerge: a high-moment solution with the Cu local moment aligned parallel to neighbors, and a low-moment solution with Cu aligned antiparallel to its environment. In the electron-doped case the conduction band structure changes significantly: states of mostly Pb character merge with the formerly dispersionless Cu d state, and high-spin and low spin solutions once again appear. Thus we conclude that with suitable doping, the ground state of the system is not adequately described by a band picture, and that strong correlations are likely.