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Orbital Magnetic Field Driven Metal-Insulator Transition in Strongly Correlated Electron Systems

Georg Rohringer1,2 and Anton Markov3,4

  • 1Theory and Simulation of Condensed Matter, Department of Physics, King’s College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
  • 2I. Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Hamburg, 20355 Hamburg, Germany
  • 3Russian Quantum Center, Skolkovo Innovation City, 121205 Moscow, Russia
  • 4Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 231, Campus Plaine, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 196503 – Published 6 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bw7f-p8mp

Abstract

We study the effects of an orbital magnetic field on the Mott metal-insulator transition in the Hubbard-Hofstadter model. We demonstrate that sufficiently large magnetic fields induce a Mott insulator-to-metal phase transition supporting our claim with dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) numerical results. For both competing phases (metal and insulator) we observe a magnetic-field-induced metallization reflected in an enhancement of kinetic and potential energy. The kinetic energy of the Mott insulator increases due to the Aharonov-Bohm effect experienced by electrons virtually tunneling around an elementary plaquette which is, however, suppressed by strong correlations. The kinetic energy of the metallic phase, on the other hand, is more strongly affected by the magnetic field through a field-driven redistribution of spectral weight due to the formation of magnetic minibands. This leads to an increase of the kinetic energy which tends to stabilize the metallic state. Our theoretical results might be relevant for recent experimental studies on magnetic field driven insulator-to-metal transitions in strongly correlated materials such as VO2, λ-type organic conductors, and moiré multilayers.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 196503– Published 6 November, 2025
  • Received 27 June 2024
  • Revised 12 August 2025
  • Accepted 15 October 2025
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