Melting of Pb Charge Glass and Simultaneous Pb-Cr Charge Transfer in PbCrO3 as the Origin of Volume Collapse.

A metal to insulator transition in integer or half integer charge systems can be regarded as crystallization of charges. The insulating state tends to have a glassy nature when randomness or geometrical frustration exists. We report that the charge glass state is realized in a perovskite compound PbCrO3, which has been known for almost 50 years, without any obvious inhomogeneity or triangular arrangement in the charge system. PbCrO3 has a valence state of Pb(2+)(0.5)Pb(4+)(0.5)Cr(3+)O3 with Pb(2+)-Pb(4+) correlation length of three lattice-spacings at ambient condition. A pressure induced melting of charge glass and simultaneous Pb-Cr charge transfer causes an insulator to metal transition and ∼10% volume collapse.