Mott-Hubbard transition in V2O3 revisited

Abstract

The isostructural metal-insulator transition in Cr-doped V2O3 is the textbook example of a Mott-Hubbard transition between a paramagnetic metal (PM) and a paramagnetic insulator. We review recent theoretical calculations as well as experimental findings which shed new light on this famous transition. In particular, the old paradigm of a doping-pressure equivalence does not hold, and there is a microscale phase separation for Cr-doped V2O3. In this Feature Article, Hansmann et al. review recent calculations and experiments which shed a new light on the famous Mott-Hubbard transition in V2O3. Old paradigms, such as the pressure-doping equivalence need to be changed. The picture shows that, on the microscale, "metallic" Cr-doped V2O3 is actually phase separated into metallic islands (red) intermixed with insulating regions (blue). © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.