Electronic transport and dynamics in correlated heterostructures

TL;DR

This study uses the time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation to analyze electronic transport in correlated heterostructures, revealing different behaviors in metallic and Mott insulating states under bias.

Contribution

It provides a detailed real-time analysis of transport in correlated slabs, highlighting the transition from metallic conduction to Mott insulator breakdown under bias.

Findings

Metallic slabs reach a steady-state with finite current.

Zero-bias conductance is independent of correlation strength in metallic state.

Mott insulators exhibit exponentially activated currents under bias.

Abstract

We investigate by means of the time-dependent Gutzwiller approximation the transport properties of a strongly-correlated slab subject to Hubbard repulsion and connected with to two metallic leads kept at a different electrochemical potential. We focus on the real-time evolution of the electronic properties after the slab is connected to the leads and consider both metallic and Mott insulating slabs. When the correlated slab is metallic, the system relaxes to a steady-state that sustains a finite current. The zero-bias conductance is finite and independent of the degree of correlations within the slab as long as the system remains metallic. On the other hand, when the slab is in a Mott insulating state, the external bias leads to currents that are exponentially activated by charge tunneling across the Mott-Hubbard gap, consistent with the Landau-Zener dielectric breakdown scenario.