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Interaction-driven Band-insulator--to--Metal transition in bilayer ionic Hubbard model

The interaction-driven insulator-to-metal transition has been reported in the ionic Hubbard model (IHM) for moderate interaction $U$, while its metallic phase only occupies a narrow region in the phase diagram. To explore the enlargement of the metallic regime, we extend the ionic Hubbard model to two coupled layers and study the interplay of interlayer hybridization $V$ and two types of intralayer staggered potentials $Δ$: one with the same (in-phase) and the other with a $π$-phase shift (anti-phase) potential between layers. Our determinant Quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC) simulations at lowest accessible temperatures demonstrate that the interaction-driven metallic phase between Mott and band insulators expands in the $Δ-V$ phase diagram of bilayer IHM only for in-phase ionic potentials; while anti-phase potential always induces an insulator with charge density order. This implies possible further extension of the ionic Hubbard model from the bilayer case here to realistic three-dimensional model.