First-order melting of a weak spin-orbit mott insulator into a correlated metal
- Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
- Canadian Neutron Beam Centre, National Research Council, Ontario (Canada)
- Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
- Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States).
- 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
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