Surface effects in doping a Mott insulator

Abstract

The physics of doping a Mott insulator is investigated in the presence of a solid-vacuum interface. Using the embedding approach for dynamical mean-field theory, we show that the change in surface spectral evolution in a doped Mott insulator is driven by a combination of charge transfer effects and enhanced correlation effects. Approaching a Mott insulating phase from the metallic side, we show that a dead layer forms at the surface of the solid, where quasiparticle amplitudes are exponentially suppressed. Surface correlation and charge transfer effects can be strongly impacted by changes of the hopping integrals at the surface. © 2011 American Physical Society.