Electronic Phase Transition of Graphite in a Strong Magnetic Field

Abstract

Graphite in a strong magnetic field ( H // c -axis) has a one-dimensional electronic energy spectrum with small bandwidth. A recent experiment of magneto-resistance on graphite in \(H \lesssim 30\)T, which showed an anomalous increase of the resistance, is explained by a charge density wave (CDW) instability associated with this one-dimensional energy spectrum. A rough agreement is found between the experiment and the theoretical estimate of the critical temperature based on the mean field approximation.