Magnetically driven metal-insulator transition in NaOsO ₃

The metal-insulator transition (MIT) is one of the most dramatic manifestations of electron correlations in materials. Various mechanisms producing MITs have been extensively considered, including the Mott (electron localization via Coulomb repulsion), Anderson (localization via disorder), and Peierls (localization via distortion of a periodic one-dimensional lattice) mechanisms. One additional route to a MIT proposed by Slater, in which long-range magnetic order in a three dimensional system drives the MIT, has received relatively little attention. Using neutron and x-ray scattering we show that the MIT in NaOsO ₃ is coincident with the onset of long-range commensurate three dimensional magnetic order. While candidate materials have been suggested, our experimental methodology allows the first definitive demonstration of the long predicted Slater MIT.