Abstract
Entanglement of spin and orbital degrees of freedom drives the formation of novel quantum and topological physical states. Here we report resonant inelastic x-ray scattering measurements of the transition metal oxides Ca3LiOsO6 and Ba2YOsO6, which reveals a dramatic spitting of the t2g manifold. We invoke an intermediate coupling approach that incorporates both spin-orbit coupling and electron-electron interactions on an even footing and reveal that the ground state of 5d3-based compounds, which has remained elusive in previously applied models, is a novel spin-orbit entangled J=3/2 electronic ground state. This work reveals the hidden diversity of spin-orbit controlled ground states in 5d systems and introduces a new arena in the search for spin-orbit controlled phases of matter.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 207202 |
Journal | Physical Review Letters |
Volume | 118 |
Issue number | 20 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 16 2017 |
Funding
We thank G. Pokharel for useful discussions. Use of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No.DE-AC02-06CH11357. The research at ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source and High Flux Isotope Reactor was supported by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This research was supported in part by the Center for Emergent Materials an National Science Foundation (NSF) Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR-1420451). This research was supported in part by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) through a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (15K14133, 16H04501). This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No.DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy.