Field-induced quantum metal–insulator transition in the pyrochlore iridate Nd2Ir2O7

Tian, Zhaoming; Kohama, Yoshimitsu; Tomita, Takahiro; Ishizuka, Hiroaki; Hsieh, Timothy H.; Ishikawa, Jun J.; Kindo, Koichi; Balents, Leon; Nakatsuji, Satoru

doi:10.1038/NPHYS3567

Title: Field-induced quantum metal–insulator transition in the pyrochlore iridate Nd₂Ir₂O₇

Journal Article · Mon Nov 30 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Nature Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/NPHYS3567· OSTI ID:1435592

Tian, Zhaoming ^[1]; Kohama, Yoshimitsu ^[1]; Tomita, Takahiro ^[1];

^[2]; Hsieh, Timothy H. ^[3]; Ishikawa, Jun J. ^[1]; Kindo, Koichi ^[1]; Balents, Leon ^[2]; Nakatsuji, Satoru ^[4]

Univ. of Tokyo, Kashiwa (Japan)
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Univ. of Tokyo, Kashiwa (Japan); Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Saitama (Japan)

The metal–insulator transition (MIT) is a hallmark of strong correlation in solids. Quantum MITs at zero temperature have been observed in various systems tuned by either carrier doping or bandwidth. However, such transitions have rarely been induced by application of magnetic field, as normally the field scale is too small in comparison with the charge gap, whose size is a fraction of the Coulomb repulsion energy (~1 eV). Here we report the discovery of a quantum MIT tuned by a field of ~10 T, whose magnetoresistance exceeds 60,000%. In particular, our anisotropic magnetotransport measurements on the cubic insulator Nd₂Ir₂O₇ (ref. 4) reveal that the insulating state can be suppressed by such a field to a zero-temperature quantum MIT, but only for fields near the [001] axis. The strong sensitivity to the field direction is remarkable for a cubic crystal, as is the fact that the MIT can be driven by such a small magnetic field, given the 45 meV gap energy, which is of order of 50 times the Zeeman energy for an Ir⁴⁺ spin. The systematic change in the MIT from continuous near zero field to first order under fields indicates the existence of a tricritical point proximate to the quantum MIT. Here, we argue that these phenomena imply both strong correlation effects on the Ir electrons and an active role for the Nd spins.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

DOE Contract Number:: FG02-08ER46524

OSTI ID:: 1435592

Journal Information:: Nature Physics, Vol. 12, Issue 2; ISSN 1745-2473

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group (NPG)

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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