Dimensionality-strain phase diagram of strontium iridates

Abstract

The competition between spin-orbit coupling, bandwidth ($W$) and electron-electron interaction ($U$) makes iridates highly susceptible to small external perturbations, which can trigger the onset of novel types of electronic and magnetic states. Here we employ {\em first principles} calculations based on density functional theory and on the constrained random phase approximation to study how dimensionality and strain affect the strength of $U$ and $W$ in (SrIrO${}_3$)${}_m$/(SrTiO${}_3$) superlattices. The result is a phase diagram explaining two different types of controllable magnetic and electronic transitions, spin-flop and insulator-to-metal, connected with the disruption of the $J_{eff}=1/2$ state which cannnot be understood within a simplified local picture.

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Dimensionality-driven metal-insulator-transition in spin-orbit coupled SrIrO${}_3$
• Strain-engineering of the charge and spin-orbital interactions in Sr2IrO4
• Strain-modulated Slater-Mott crossover of pseudospin-half square-lattice in (SrIrO3)1/ (SrTiO3)1 superlattices
• Doping-induced insulator-metal transition in the Lifshitz magnetic insulator NaOsO3