Phase transition in the disordered f-band of Ce₃Bi₄Pt₃

Abstract

The strongly correlated electron systems have attracted considerable interest due to its variety of ground state properties. One very important class of these materials is Ce₃Bi₄Pt₃. The study of the behaviour of the gap in this alloy experimentally revealed that it is affected by non-magnetic substitution of the f-electrons; hence, the experimental studies of (Ce_1–xLa_x)₃Bi₄Pt₃ have been carried out. It is therefore necessary to investigate theoretically the effect of La-doping (disorder) on the charge gap (∆c) formation in Ce₃Bi₄Pt₃ in bringing about a phase transition from a semi- conductor to a metal. The theoretical instrument for this work is the periodic Anderson Model (PAM) hybridization term, v and Coulomb interaction, u. The effect of doping (increase in x) can be amplified by the tuning of u at a constant increase of v. This means that an insulator to metal transition can be achieved with a small x.