Charge-order on the triangular lattice: Effects of next-nearest-neighbor attraction in finite temperatures

The extended Hubbard model in the atomic limit, which is equivalent to lattice S=1/2 fermionic gas, is considered on the triangular lattice. The model includes onsite Hubbard U interaction and both nearest-neighbor (W1) and next-nearest-neighbor (W2) density–density intersite interactions. The variational approach treating the U term exactly and the Wl terms in the mean-field approximation is used to investigate thermodynamics of the model and to find its finite temperature (T>0) phase diagrams (as a function of particle concentration) for W1>0 and W2<0. Two different types of charge-order (i.e., DCO and TCO phases) within 3×3 unit cells as well as the nonordered (NO) phase occur on the diagram. Moreover, several kinds of phase-separated (PS) states (NO/DCO, DCO/DCO, DCO/TCO, and TCO/TCO) are found to be stable for fixed concentration. Attractive W2<0 stabilizes PS states at T=0 and it extends the regions of their occurrence at T>0. The evolution of the diagrams with increasing of |W2|/W1 is investigated. It is found that some of the PS states are stable only at T>0. Two different critical values of |W2|/W1 are determined for the PS states, in which two ordered phases of the same type (i.e., two domains of the DCO or TCO phase) coexist.