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Title: Hallmarks of the Mott-metal crossover in the hole-doped pseudospin-1/2 Mott insulator Sr2IrO4

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11367· OSTI ID:1379297
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [5];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Dept. of Physics
  2. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Dept. of Physics; Incheon National Univ. (Korea). Dept. of Physics
  3. Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland). Swiss Light Source
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source
  5. Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States). Center for Advanced Materials

The physics of doped Mott insulators remains controversial after decades of active research, hindered by the interplay among competing orders and fluctuations. It is thus highly desired to distinguish the intrinsic characters of the Mott-metal crossover from those of other origins. Here we investigate the evolution of electronic structure and dynamics of the hole-doped pseudospin-1/2 Mott insulator Sr 2 IrO 4 . The effective hole doping is achieved by replacing Ir with Rh atoms, with the chemical potential immediately jumping to or near the top of the lower Hubbard band. The doped iridates exhibit multiple iconic low-energy features previously observed in doped cuprates - pseudogaps, Fermi arcs and marginal-Fermi-liquid-like electronic scattering rates. We suggest these signatures are most likely an integral part of the material's proximity to the Mott state, rather than from many of the most claimed mechanisms, including preformed electron pairing, quantum criticality or density-wave formation.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; FG0203ER4606; FG02-10ER46686; DMR-0537588
OSTI ID:
1379297
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 7; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 86 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (32)

Spectroscopic Studies on the Metal-Insulator Transition Mechanism in Correlated Materials journal May 2018
The J eff = 1/2 Antiferromagnet Sr 2 IrO 4 : A Golden Avenue toward New Physics and Functions journal October 2019
A charge density wave-like instability in a doped spin–orbit-assisted weak Mott insulator journal January 2017
Atomic-scale fragmentation and collapse of antiferromagnetic order in a doped Mott insulator journal October 2019
Spin-orbit-controlled metal–insulator transition in Sr2IrO4 journal January 2020
Determination of the local structure of Sr 2−x M x IrO 4 (M = K, La) as a function of doping and temperature journal January 2018
Disorder induced power-law gaps in an insulator–metal Mott transition journal October 2018
Ultrafast magnetodynamics with free-electron lasers journal January 2018
Decoupling of magnetism and electric transport in single-crystal (Sr 1− x A x ) 2 IrO 4 (A  =  Ca or Ba) journal May 2018
Preferential quenching of 5 d antiferromagnetic order in Sr 3 (Ir 1− x Mn x ) 2 O 7 journal April 2019
The challenge of spin–orbit-tuned ground states in iridates: a key issues review journal February 2018
Electronic structure and optical properties of Sr 2 IrO 4 under epitaxial strain journal January 2019
Interface-engineered hole doping in Sr 2 IrO 4 /LaNiO 3 heterostructure journal October 2019
Spin-orbit entangled j = 1 2 moments in Ba 2 CeIrO 6 : A frustrated fcc quantum magnet journal August 2019
Magnetic excitations in hole-doped Sr 2 IrO 4 : Comparison with electron-doped cuprates journal September 2019
Suppression of the orbital magnetic moment driven by electronic correlations in Sr 4 Ru 3 O 10 journal September 2019
Anisotropic softening of magnetic excitations in lightly electron-doped Sr 2 IrO 4 journal June 2016
Charge partitioning and anomalous hole doping in Rh-doped Sr 2 IrO 4 journal February 2017
Anisotropic exchange and spin-wave damping in pure and electron-doped Sr 2 IrO 4 journal August 2017
Formation of an incoherent metallic state in Rh-doped Sr 2 IrO 4 journal April 2018
Influence of the multiplet structure on the photoemission spectra of spin-orbit driven Mott insulators: Application to Sr 2 IrO 4 journal August 2018
Oxygen states in La- and Rh-doped Sr 2 IrO 4 probed by angle-resolved photoemission and O K -edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering journal January 2019
Conductivity Spectrum of Ultracold Atoms in an Optical Lattice journal April 2019
A charge density wave-like instability in a doped spin-orbit-assisted weak Mott insulator text January 2017
Decoupling of magnetism and electric transport in single-crystal (Sr1-xAx)2IrO4 (A = Ca or Ba) text January 2017
Electronic structure and optical properties of Sr$_2$IrO$_4$ under epitaxial strain text January 2018
Atomic-scale fragmentation and collapse of antiferromagnetic order in a doped Mott insulator text January 2019
The Jeff=1/2 antiferromagnet Sr2IrO4: A golden avenue toward new physics and functions text January 2021
Author Correction: Fermiology and electron dynamics of trilayer nickelate La4Ni3O10 journal May 2018
Infrared probe of pseudogap in electron-doped Sr2IrO4 journal September 2017
Magnetism in iridate heterostructures leveraged by structural distortions journal March 2019
Correlation induced electron-hole asymmetry in quasi- two-dimensional iridates other January 2017