1Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China 3Department of Physics and Beijing Key Laboratory of Opto-electronic Functional Materials & Micro-nano Devices, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China 4Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, School of Advanced Materials, Shenzhen 518055, China 5Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China 6State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China 7Frontier Science Center for Quantum Information, Beijing 100084, China
Abstract:The Mott transition is one of the fundamental issues in condensed matter physics, especially in the system with antiferromagnetic long-range order. However, such a transition is rare in quantum spin liquid (QSL) systems without long-range order. Here we report the experimental pressure-induced insulator to metal transition followed by the emergence of superconductivity in the QSL candidate NaYbSe$_{2}$ with a triangular lattice of 4$f$ Yb$^{3+}$ ions. Detail analysis of transport properties in metallic state shows an evolution from non-Fermi liquid to Fermi liquid behavior when approaching the vicinity of superconductivity. An irreversible structure phase transition occurs around 11 GPa, which is revealed by the x-ray diffraction. These results shed light on the Mott transition in the QSL systems.
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