Interplay of spin-orbit interactions, dimensionality, and octahedral rotations in semimetallic SrIrO3

Y. F. Nie, P. D. C. King, C. H. Kim, M. Uchida, H. I. Wei, B. D. Faeth, J. P. Ruf, J. P. C. Ruff, L. Xie, X. Pan, C. J. Fennie, D. G. Schlom, K. M. Shen

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Abstract

We employ reactive molecular-beam epitaxy to synthesize the metastable perovskite SrIrO3 and utilize in situ angle-resolved photoemission to reveal its electronic structure as an exotic narrow-band semimetal. We discover remarkably narrow bands which originate from a confluence of strong spin-orbit interactions, dimensionality, and both in- and out-of-plane IrO6 octahedral rotations. The partial occupation of numerous bands with strongly mixed orbital characters signals the breakdown of the single-band Mott picture that characterizes its insulating two-dimensional counterpart, Sr2IrO4, illustrating the power of structure-property relations for manipulating the subtle balance between spin-orbit interactions and electron-electron interactions.
Original languageEnglish
Article number016401
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume114
Issue number1
Early online date6 Jan 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Jan 2015

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