Han, Jong E.Aron, CamilleChen, XiMansaray, IshiakaHan, Jae-HoKim, Ki-SeokRandle, MichaelBird, Jonathan P.2023-09-112023-09-112023-09-112023-05-2210.1038/s41467-023-38557-8https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/200611WOS:001024186000021The significant discrepancy observed between the predicted and experimental switching fields in correlated insulators under a DC electric field far-from-equilibrium necessitates a reevaluation of current microscopic understanding. Here we show that an electron avalanche can occur in the bulk limit of such insulators at arbitrarily small electric field by introducing a generic model of electrons coupled to an inelastic medium of phonons. The quantum avalanche arises by the generation of a ladder of in-gap states, created by a multi-phonon emission process. Hot-phonons in the avalanche trigger a premature and partial collapse of the correlated gap. The phonon spectrum dictates the existence of two-stage versus single-stage switching events which we associate with charge-density-wave and Mott resistive phase transitions, respectively. The behavior of electron and phonon temperatures, as well as the temperature dependence of the threshold fields, demonstrates how a crossover between the thermal and quantum switching scenarios emerges within a unified framework of the quantum avalanche. The microscopic mechanism of the electric-field-driven insulator-metal transition in strongly correlated systems has been debated. Here the authors present a general theory based on a quantum avalanche mediated by the formation of in-gap ladder states from multiple-phonon emission.Multidisciplinary SciencesScience & Technology - Other Topicscharge-density wavesmean-field theoryelectric-fieldtransitiondynamicstas3text::journal::journal article::research article