No Arabic abstract
Motivated by the rich interplay among electronic correlation, spin-orbit coupling (SOC), crystal-field splitting, and geometric frustrations in the honeycomb-like lattice, we systematically investigated the electronic and magnetic properties of Li$_2$RhO$_3$. The material is semiconducting with a narrow band gap of $Deltasim$78 meV, and its temperature dependence of resistivity conforms to 3D variable range hopping mechanism. No long-range magnetic ordering was found down to 0.5 K, due to the geometric frustrations. Instead, single atomic spin-glass behavior below the spin-freezing temperature ($sim$6 K) was observed and its spin dynamics obeys the universal critical slowing down scaling law. First principle calculations suggested it to be a relativistic Mott insulator mediated by both electronic correlation and SOC. With moderate strength of electronic correlation and SOC, our results shed new light to the research of Heisenberg-Kitaev model in realistic materials.
The topochemical transformation of single crystals of Sr$_3$Ir$_2$O$_7$ into Sr$_3$Ir$_2$O$_7$F$_2$ is reported via fluorine insertion. Characterization of the newly formed Sr$_3$Ir$_2$O$_7$F$_2$ phase shows a nearly complete oxidation of Ir$^{4+}$ cations into Ir$^{5+}$ that in turn drives the system from an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator with a half-filled J$_{eff}=1/2$ band into a nonmagnetic $J=0$ band insulator. First principles calculations reveal a remarkably flat insertion energy that locally drives the fluorination process to completion. Band structure calculations support the formation of a band insulator whose charge gap relies on the strong spin-orbit coupling inherent to the Ir metal ions of this compound.
An anapole state that breaks inversion and time reversal symmetries with preserving translation symmetry of underlying lattice has aroused great interest as a new quantum state, but only a few candidate materials have been reported. Recently, in a spin-orbit coupled Mott insulator SIR, the emergence of a possible hidden order phase with broken inversion symmetry has been suggested at $T_{Omega}$ above the N{e}el temperature by optical second harmonic generation measurements. Moreover, polarized neutron diffraction measurements revealed the broken time reversal symmetry below $T_{Omega}$, which was supported by subsequent muon spin relaxation experiments. However, the nature of this mysterious phase remains largely elusive. Here, we investigate the hidden order phase through the combined measurements of the in-plane magnetic anisotropy with exceptionally high-precision magnetic torque and the nematic susceptibility with elastoresistance. A distinct two-fold in-plane magnetic anisotropy along the [110] Ir-O-Ir bond direction sets in below $sim T_{Omega}$, providing thermodynamic evidence for a nematic phase transition with broken $C_4$ rotational symmetry. However, in contrast to the even-parity nematic transition reported in other correlated electron systems, the nematic susceptibility exhibits no divergent behavior towards $T_{Omega}$. These results provide bulk evidence for an odd-parity order parameter with broken rotational symmetry in the hidden order state. We discuss the hidden order in terms of an anapole state, in which polar toroidal moment is induced by two current loops in each IrO$_6$ octahedron of opposite chirality. Contrary to the simplest loop-current pattern previously suggested, the present results are consistent with a pattern in which the intra-unit cell loop-current flows along only one of the diagonal directions in the IrO$_4$ square.
As an elementary particle the electron carries spin hbar/2 and charge e. When binding to the atomic nucleus it also acquires an angular momentum quantum number corresponding to the quantized atomic orbital it occupies (e.g., s, p or d). Even if electrons in solids form bands and delocalize from the nuclei, in Mott insulators they retain their three fundamental quantum numbers: spin, charge and orbital[1]. The hallmark of one-dimensional (1D) physics is a breaking up of the elementary electron into its separate degrees of freedom[2]. The separation of the electron into independent quasi-particles that carry either spin (spinons) or charge (holons) was first observed fifteen years ago[3]. Using Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering on the 1D Mott-insulator Sr2CuO3 we now observe also the orbital degree of freedom separating. We resolve an orbiton liberating itself from spinons and propagating through the lattice as a distinct quasi-particle with a substantial dispersion of ~0.2 eV.
Motivated by the recent development of time-resolved resonant-inelastic x-ray scattering (TRRIXS) in photoexcited antiferromagnetic Mott insulators, we numerically investigate momentum-dependent transient spin dynamics in a half-filled Hubbard model on a square lattice. After turning off a pumping photon pulse, the intensity of a dynamical spin structure factor temporally oscillates with frequencies determined by the energy of two magnons in the antiferromagnetic Mott insulator. We find an antiphase behavior in the oscillations between two orthogonal momentum directions, parallel and perpendicular to the electric field of a pump pulse. The phase difference comes from the $B_{1g}$ channel of the two-magnon excitation. Observing the antiphase oscillations will be a big challenge for TRRIXS experiments when their time resolution will be improved by more than an order of magnitude.
How a Mott insulator develops into a weakly coupled metal upon doping is a central question to understanding various emergent correlated phenomena. To analyze this evolution and its connection to the high-$T_c$ cuprates, we study the single-particle spectrum for the doped Hubbard model using cluster perturbation theory on superclusters. Starting from extremely low doping, we identify a heavily renormalized quasiparticle dispersion that immediately develops across the Fermi level, and a weakening polaronic side band at higher binding energy. The quasiparticle spectral weight roughly grows at twice the rate of doping in the low doping regime, but this rate is halved at optimal doping. In the heavily doped regime, we find both strong electron-hole asymmetry and a persistent presence of Mott spectral features. Finally, we discuss the applicability of the single-band Hubbard model to describe the evolution of nodal spectra measured by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) on the single-layer cuprate La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ ($0 le x le 0.15$). This work benchmarks the predictive power of the Hubbard model for electronic properties of high-$T_c$ cuprates.