Slater Insulator in Iridate Perovskites with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling

Q. Cui; J. G. Cheng; W. Fan; A. E. Taylor; S. Calder; M. A. McGuire; J. Q. Yan; D. Meyers; X. Li; Y. Q. Cai; Y. Y. Jiao; Y. Choi; D. Haskel; H. Gotou; Y. Uwatoko; J. Chakhalian; A. D. Christianson; S. Yunoki; J. B. Goodenough; J. S. Zhou

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.176603

Slater Insulator in Iridate Perovskites with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling

Q. Cui, J. G. Cheng, W. Fan, A. E. Taylor, S. Calder, M. A. McGuire, J. Q. Yan, D. Meyers, X. Li, Y. Q. Cai, Y. Y. Jiao, Y. Choi, D. Haskel, H. Gotou, Y. Uwatoko, J. Chakhalian, A. D. Christianson, S. Yunoki, J. B. Goodenough, J. S. Zhou

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Abstract

The perovskite SrIrO3 is an exotic narrow-band metal owing to a confluence of the strengths of the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and the electron-electron correlations. It has been proposed that topological and magnetic insulating phases can be achieved by tuning the SOC, Hubbard interactions, and/or lattice symmetry. Here, we report that the substitution of nonmagnetic, isovalent Sn4+ for Ir4+ in the SrIr1-xSnxO3 perovskites synthesized under high pressure leads to a metal-insulator transition to an antiferromagnetic (AF) phase at TN≥225 K. The continuous change of the cell volume as detected by x-ray diffraction and the λ-shape transition of the specific heat on cooling through TN demonstrate that the metal-insulator transition is of second order. Neutron powder diffraction results indicate that the Sn substitution enlarges an octahedral-site distortion that reduces the SOC relative to the spin-spin exchange interaction and results in the type-G AF spin ordering below TN. Measurement of high-temperature magnetic susceptibility shows the evolution of magnetic coupling in the paramagnetic phase typical of weak itinerant-electron magnetism in the Sn-substituted samples. A reduced structural symmetry in the magnetically ordered phase leads to an electron gap opening at the Brillouin zone boundary below TN in the same way as proposed by Slater.

Original language	English
Article number	176603
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	117
Issue number	17
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.176603
State	Published - Oct 20 2016

Funding

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No.2014CB921500), the National Science Foundation of China (Grants No.11304371 and No.11574377), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No.XDB07020100), and the Opening Project of Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center (Grant No.2015KF22), Huazhong University of Science and Technology. J.S.Z. and J.B.G. were supported by the NSF-DMR-1122603 and the Welch Foundation (F-1066). The research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering Division (M.A.M. and J.Q.Y.) and Scientific User Facilities Division (A.E.T., S.C., and A.D.C.). Use of the Advanced Photon Source, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the US DOE, OS by Argonne National Laboratory, was supported by the US DOE under Contract No.DE-AC02-06CH11357 (Y.C. and D.H.). S.Y. was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Science Research from MEXT Japan under the Grant No.25287096.

Funders	Funder number
Scientific User Facilities Division
U.S. Department of Energy
Welch Foundation	F-1066
Office of Science
Basic Energy Sciences
Argonne National Laboratory
Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science	25287096
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
National Natural Science Foundation of China	11304371, 11574377
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Huazhong University of Science and Technology	NSF-DMR-1122603
High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Sciences	2015KF22
National Key Research and Development Program of China	2014CB921500

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Cui, Q., Cheng, J. G., Fan, W., Taylor, A. E., Calder, S., McGuire, M. A., Yan, J. Q., Meyers, D., Li, X., Cai, Y. Q., Jiao, Y. Y., Choi, Y., Haskel, D., Gotou, H., Uwatoko, Y., Chakhalian, J., Christianson, A. D., Yunoki, S., Goodenough, J. B., & Zhou, J. S. (2016). Slater Insulator in Iridate Perovskites with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling. Physical Review Letters, 117(17), Article 176603. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.176603

@article{f4e06f09a3984d77a9a93c78f4b542aa,

title = "Slater Insulator in Iridate Perovskites with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling",

abstract = "The perovskite SrIrO3 is an exotic narrow-band metal owing to a confluence of the strengths of the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and the electron-electron correlations. It has been proposed that topological and magnetic insulating phases can be achieved by tuning the SOC, Hubbard interactions, and/or lattice symmetry. Here, we report that the substitution of nonmagnetic, isovalent Sn4+ for Ir4+ in the SrIr1-xSnxO3 perovskites synthesized under high pressure leads to a metal-insulator transition to an antiferromagnetic (AF) phase at TN≥225 K. The continuous change of the cell volume as detected by x-ray diffraction and the λ-shape transition of the specific heat on cooling through TN demonstrate that the metal-insulator transition is of second order. Neutron powder diffraction results indicate that the Sn substitution enlarges an octahedral-site distortion that reduces the SOC relative to the spin-spin exchange interaction and results in the type-G AF spin ordering below TN. Measurement of high-temperature magnetic susceptibility shows the evolution of magnetic coupling in the paramagnetic phase typical of weak itinerant-electron magnetism in the Sn-substituted samples. A reduced structural symmetry in the magnetically ordered phase leads to an electron gap opening at the Brillouin zone boundary below TN in the same way as proposed by Slater.",

author = "Q. Cui and Cheng, {J. G.} and W. Fan and Taylor, {A. E.} and S. Calder and McGuire, {M. A.} and Yan, {J. Q.} and D. Meyers and X. Li and Cai, {Y. Q.} and Jiao, {Y. Y.} and Y. Choi and D. Haskel and H. Gotou and Y. Uwatoko and J. Chakhalian and Christianson, {A. D.} and S. Yunoki and Goodenough, {J. B.} and Zhou, {J. S.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 American Physical Society.",

year = "2016",

month = oct,

day = "20",

doi = "10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.176603",

language = "English",

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Cui, Q, Cheng, JG, Fan, W, Taylor, AE, Calder, S , McGuire, MA , Yan, JQ, Meyers, D, Li, X, Cai, YQ, Jiao, YY, Choi, Y, Haskel, D, Gotou, H, Uwatoko, Y, Chakhalian, J, Christianson, AD, Yunoki, S, Goodenough, JB & Zhou, JS 2016, 'Slater Insulator in Iridate Perovskites with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling', Physical Review Letters, vol. 117, no. 17, 176603. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.176603

TY - JOUR

T1 - Slater Insulator in Iridate Perovskites with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling

AU - Cui, Q.

AU - Cheng, J. G.

AU - Fan, W.

AU - Taylor, A. E.

AU - Calder, S.

AU - McGuire, M. A.

AU - Yan, J. Q.

AU - Meyers, D.

AU - Li, X.

AU - Cai, Y. Q.

AU - Jiao, Y. Y.

AU - Choi, Y.

AU - Haskel, D.

AU - Gotou, H.

AU - Uwatoko, Y.

AU - Chakhalian, J.

AU - Christianson, A. D.

AU - Yunoki, S.

AU - Goodenough, J. B.

AU - Zhou, J. S.

PY - 2016/10/20

Y1 - 2016/10/20

N2 - The perovskite SrIrO3 is an exotic narrow-band metal owing to a confluence of the strengths of the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and the electron-electron correlations. It has been proposed that topological and magnetic insulating phases can be achieved by tuning the SOC, Hubbard interactions, and/or lattice symmetry. Here, we report that the substitution of nonmagnetic, isovalent Sn4+ for Ir4+ in the SrIr1-xSnxO3 perovskites synthesized under high pressure leads to a metal-insulator transition to an antiferromagnetic (AF) phase at TN≥225 K. The continuous change of the cell volume as detected by x-ray diffraction and the λ-shape transition of the specific heat on cooling through TN demonstrate that the metal-insulator transition is of second order. Neutron powder diffraction results indicate that the Sn substitution enlarges an octahedral-site distortion that reduces the SOC relative to the spin-spin exchange interaction and results in the type-G AF spin ordering below TN. Measurement of high-temperature magnetic susceptibility shows the evolution of magnetic coupling in the paramagnetic phase typical of weak itinerant-electron magnetism in the Sn-substituted samples. A reduced structural symmetry in the magnetically ordered phase leads to an electron gap opening at the Brillouin zone boundary below TN in the same way as proposed by Slater.

AB - The perovskite SrIrO3 is an exotic narrow-band metal owing to a confluence of the strengths of the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and the electron-electron correlations. It has been proposed that topological and magnetic insulating phases can be achieved by tuning the SOC, Hubbard interactions, and/or lattice symmetry. Here, we report that the substitution of nonmagnetic, isovalent Sn4+ for Ir4+ in the SrIr1-xSnxO3 perovskites synthesized under high pressure leads to a metal-insulator transition to an antiferromagnetic (AF) phase at TN≥225 K. The continuous change of the cell volume as detected by x-ray diffraction and the λ-shape transition of the specific heat on cooling through TN demonstrate that the metal-insulator transition is of second order. Neutron powder diffraction results indicate that the Sn substitution enlarges an octahedral-site distortion that reduces the SOC relative to the spin-spin exchange interaction and results in the type-G AF spin ordering below TN. Measurement of high-temperature magnetic susceptibility shows the evolution of magnetic coupling in the paramagnetic phase typical of weak itinerant-electron magnetism in the Sn-substituted samples. A reduced structural symmetry in the magnetically ordered phase leads to an electron gap opening at the Brillouin zone boundary below TN in the same way as proposed by Slater.

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DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.176603

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VL - 117

JO - Physical Review Letters

JF - Physical Review Letters

IS - 17

M1 - 176603

ER -

Slater Insulator in Iridate Perovskites with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling

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