The electronic structure and the phases of BaVS_3

Abstract

BaVS3 is a moderately correlated d-electron system with a rich phase diagram. To construct the corresponding minimal electronic model, one has to decide which d-states are occupied, and to which extent. The ARPES experiment presented here shows that the behavior of BaVS_3 is governed by the coexistence of wide-band (A_(1g)) and narrow-band (twofold degenerate E) d-electrons. We sketch a lattice fermion model which may serve as a minimal model of BaVS_3. This serves foremost for the understanding of the metal–insulator in pure BaVS_3 and its absence in some related compounds. The nature of the low-temperature magnetic order differs for several systems which may be described in terms of the same electron model. We describe several recent experiments which give information about magnetic order at high pressures. In particular, we discuss field-induced insulator-to-metal transition at slightly subcritical pressures, and an evidence for magnetic order in the high-pressure metallic phase. The phase diagram of Sr-doped BaVS_3 is also discussed. The complexity of the phases of BaVS_3 arises from the fact that it is simultaneously unstable against several kinds of instabilities.