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Title: First-order melting of a weak spin-orbit mott insulator into a correlated metal

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8]
  1. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
  2. Canadian Neutron Beam Centre, National Research Council, Ontario (Canada)
  3. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  5. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  6. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
  7. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States).
  8. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Herein, the electronic phase diagram of the weak spin-orbit Mott insulator (Sr1-xLax)3Ir2O7 is determined via an exhaustive experimental study. Upon doping electrons via La substitution, an immediate collapse in resistivity occurs along with a narrow regime of nanoscale phase separation comprised of antiferromagnetic, insulating regions and paramagnetic, metallic puddles persisting until x≈0.04. Continued electron doping results in an abrupt, first-order phase boundary where the Néel state is suppressed and a homogenous, correlated, metallic state appears with an enhanced spin susceptibility and local moments. In conclusion, as the metallic state is stabilized, a weak structural distortion develops and suggests a competing instability with the parent spin-orbit Mott state.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; NE-AC02-06CH11357; AC02-98CH10886
OSTI ID:
1286869
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1198531
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 114, Issue 25; ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 36 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (8)

A charge density wave-like instability in a doped spin–orbit-assisted weak Mott insulator journal January 2017
Quasistatic antiferromagnetism in the quantum wells of SmTiO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures journal February 2018
Lattice frustration in spin-orbit Mott insulator Sr3Ir2O7 at high pressure journal May 2019
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
Critical fluctuations in the spin–orbit Mott insulator Sr 3 Ir 2 O 7 journal March 2019
Preferential quenching of 5 d antiferromagnetic order in Sr 3 (Ir 1− x Mn x ) 2 O 7 journal April 2019
Epitaxial growth and antiferromagnetism of Sn-substituted perovskite iridate SrI r 0.8 S n 0.2 O 3 journal December 2019
A charge density wave-like instability in a doped spin-orbit-assisted weak Mott insulator text January 2017