Tracking local magnetic dynamics via high-energy charge excitations in a relativistic Mott insulator

Abstract

We use time- and energy-resolved optical spectroscopy to investigate the coupling of electron-hole excitations to the magnetic environment in the relativistic Mott insulator Na${}_2$IrO${}_3$. We show that, on the picosecond timescale, the photoinjected electron-hole pairs delocalize on the hexagons of the Ir lattice via the formation of quasi-molecular orbital (QMO) excitations and the exchange of energy with the short-range-ordered zig-zag magnetic background. The possibility of mapping the magnetic dynamics, which is characterized by typical frequencies in the THz range, onto high-energy (1-2 eV) charge excitations provides a new platform to investigate, and possibly control, the dynamics of magnetic interactions in correlated materials with strong spin-orbit coupling, even in the presence of complex magnetic phases.

arXiv comment5 pages, 4 figures, supplementary information

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Models and Materials for Generalized Kitaev Magnetism
• Hunting Majorana Fermions in Kitaev Magnets
• Accessing temperature waves: a dispersion relation perspective
• Emergent ultrafast phenomena in correlated oxides and heterostructures
• Novel spin-orbit coupling driven emergent states in iridate-based heterostructures
• Nonequilibrium steady-state theory of photodoped Mott insulators
• Emergence of string-valence bond solid state in the frustrated $J_1-J_2$ transverse field Ising model on the square lattice
• Electronic excitations in $\gamma$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• The origin of exciton mass in a frustrated Mott insulator Na${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• Ultrafast spin dynamics in the proximate quantum spin liquid α-RuCl3