Non-fermi liquid behavior in nearly charge ordered layered metals

Phys Rev Lett. 2006 Jun 2;96(21):216402. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.216402. Epub 2006 Jun 1.

Abstract

Non-Fermi liquid behavior is shown to occur in two-dimensional metals which are close to a charge ordering transition driven by the Coulomb repulsion. A linear temperature dependence of the scattering rate together with an increase of the electron effective mass occur above T*, a temperature scale much smaller than the Fermi temperature. It is shown that the anomalous temperature dependence of the optical conductivity of the quasi-two-dimensional organic metal alpha-(BEDT-TTF)2MHg(SCN)4, with M = NH4 and Rb, above T* = 50-100K, agrees qualitatively with predictions for the electronic properties of nearly charge ordered two-dimensional metals.