Dynamical mean field theory for strongly correlated inhomogeneous multilayered nanostructures

TL;DR

This paper uses dynamical mean field theory to study transport and electronic properties of multilayered nanostructures with strongly correlated barriers, revealing how Friedel oscillations and a generalized Thouless energy influence conduction.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent many-body approach to analyze inhomogeneous multilayered nanostructures, extending understanding of transport mechanisms across metal-insulator interfaces.

Findings

Friedel oscillations are frozen in and unaffected by barrier thickness.

A generalized Thouless energy describes the tunneling to incoherent transport crossover.

Self-consistent calculations differ from non-self-consistent Landauer approaches in certain regimes.

Abstract

Dynamical mean field theory is employed to calculate the properties of multilayered inhomogeneous devices composed of semi-infinite metallic lead layers coupled via barrier planes that are made from a strongly correlated material (and can be tuned through the metal-insulator Mott transition). We find that the Friedel oscillations in the metallic leads are immediately frozen in and don't change as the thickness of the barrier increases from one to eighty planes. We also identify a generalization of the Thouless energy that describes the crossover from tunneling to incoherent Ohmic transport in the insulating barrier. We qualitatively compare the results of these self-consistent many-body calculations with the assumptions of non-self-consistent Landauer-based approaches to shed light on when such approaches are likely to yield good results for the transport.