Electronic excitations and structure of Li2IrO3 thin films grown on ZrO${}_2$:Y (001) substrates

Abstract

Thin films are a prerequisite for application of the emergent exotic ground states in iridates that result from the interplay of strong spin-orbit coupling and electronic correlations. We report on pulsed laser deposition of Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$ films on ZrO${}_2$:Y(001) single crystalline substrates. X-ray diffraction confirms preferential (001) and (10-1) out-of-plane crystalline orientations with well defined in-plane orientation. Resistivity between 35 and 300 K is dominated by a three-dimensional variable range hopping mechanism. The dielectric function is determined by means of spectroscopic ellipsometry and, complemented by Fourier transform infrared transmission spectroscopy, reveals a small optical gap of $\approx$ 300 meV, a splitting of the $5d$-$t_{2g}$ manifold, and several in-gap excitations attributed to phonons and possibly magnons.

6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

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• Electronic structures of layered perovskite Sr2MO4 (M=Ru, Rh, and Ir)
• Spiral order in the honeycomb iridate Li2IrO3

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Analysis of the optical conductivity for A2IrO3 (A = Na, Li) from first principles
• Kitaev magnetism through the prism of lithium iridate
• Honeycomb oxide heterostructure: a new platform for Kitaev quantum spin liquid
• Electron-plasmon interaction induced plasmonic-polaron band replication in epitaxial perovskite SrIrO${}_3$ films
• Signatures of Floquet Engineering in the proximal Kitaev Quantum Spin Liquid H${}_3$LiIr${}_2$O${}_6$ by tr-RIXS
• Topological Characterization of Kitaev Spin Nanoribbons with Ordered Flux Configurations