Berry phase induced localization to anti-localization transition in two-dimensional Dirac fermion systems

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates how Berry phase variations induce a transition from localization to anti-localization in 2D Dirac fermion systems, revealing a metal-insulator transition driven by quantum interference effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates a continuous AL to WL to WAL transition driven by Berry phase changes in 2D massive Dirac fermions, highlighting a novel metal-insulator transition mechanism.

Findings

Berry phase varies from 0 to π with Fermi energy

Transition from Anderson localization to weak localization and anti-localization

Critical Berry phase induces WL to WAL transition

Abstract

We study theoretically the electrical transport of two-dimensional (2D) massive Dirac fermions, which are described by the 2 by 2 massive Dirac Hamiltonian, and with a gap at the charge neutrality point. Through analytical diagrammatical calculations of electrical conductivity in the presence of long range Coulomb scattering centers, we show that attendant with the variation of the Berry phase from 0 to {\pi} as the Fermi energy moves away from the Dirac point/band boundary, a continuous Anderson-localization (AL) to weak-localization (WL), and further to weak anti-localization (WAL) transition occurs, implying a change in the sign of the magnetoresistance. Such transition indicates the presence of metal-insulator transition (MIT) in this 2D system, in contrast to the classical scaling theory. The WL to WAL transition occurs at a certain critical Berry phase despite the concentration of Coulomb impurities, while the MIT critical point, which is the distinguishing doping level separating the AL and WL phases, depends on the competition of conventional conductivity and the negative maximally crossed diagram (MCD) corrections near the bottom of conduction band.