Correlation effects and hidden spin-orbit entangled electronic order in parent and electron-doped iridates Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$

Abstract

Analogs of the high-T${}_c$ cuprates have been long sought after in transition metal oxides. Due to the strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC), the $5d$ perovskite iridates Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$ exhibit a low-energy electronic structure remarkably similar to the cuprates. Whether a superconducting state exists as in the cuprates requires understanding the correlated spin-orbit entangled electronic states. Recent experiments discovered hidden order in the parent and electron doped iridates, some with striking analogies to the cuprates, including Fermi surface pockets, Fermi arcs, and pseudogap. Here, we study the correlation and disorder effects in a five-orbital model derived from the band theory. We find that the experimental observations are consistent with a $d$-wave spin-orbit density wave order that breaks the symmetry of a joint two-fold spin-orbital rotation followed by a lattice translation. There is a Berry phase and a plaquette spin flux due to spin procession as electrons hop between Ir atoms, akin to the intersite SOC in quantum spin Hall insulators. The associated staggered circulating $J_{\text{eff}}=1/2$ spin current can be probed by advanced techniques of spin-current detection in spintronics. This electronic order can emerge spontaneously from the intersite Coulomb interactions between the spatially extended iridium $5d$ orbitals, turning the metallic state into an electron doped quasi-2D Dirac semimetal with important implications on the possible superconducting state suggested by recent experiments.

8 pages, 4 figures + supplementary material (4 pages with 3 figures), published version

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Cited by in corpus (24)

• Spectral functions of Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$: theory versus experiment
• Formation of an incoherent metallic state in Rh-doped Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$
• Spin-orbit-enhanced magnetic surface second-harmonic generation in Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$
• Odd-parity spin-loop-current order mediated by transverse spin fluctuations in cuprates and related electron systems
• ARPES study of orbital characters, symmetry breakings and pseudogaps in doped and pure Sr2IrO4
• Magnetic excitations in hole-doped Sr2IrO4: A comparison with electron-doped cuprates
• Optical Signature of a Crossover from Mott- to Slater-type Gap in Sr${}_2$Ir${}_{1-x}$Rh${}_x$O${}_4$
• Origin of the different electronic structure of Rh- and Ru-doped Sr2IrO4
• Mott transition and collective charge pinning in electron doped Sr2IrO4
• Two-dimensional Peierls instability via zone boundary Dirac line nodes in layered perovskite oxides
• Nonsymmorphic Dirac semimetal and carrier dynamics in doped spin-orbit-coupled Mott insulator Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$
• $d$- and $p$-wave quantum liquid crystal orders in cuprate superconductors, $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)${}_2$X, and coupled chain Hubbard models: functional-renormalization-group analysis
• Coherent and incoherent bands in La and Rh doped Sr3Ir2O7
• Orbital order in a bosonic $p$-band triangular lattice
• Modeling multiorbital effects in Sr2IrO4 under strain and a Zeeman field
• Low-energy electrodynamics of Dirac semimetal phases in the doped Mott insulator Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$
• Possible superconductivity induced by a large spin-orbit coupling in carrier doped iridium oxide insulators: A weak coupling approach
• Pseudo-spin rotation symmetry breaking by Coulomb interaction terms in spin-orbit coupled systems
• Anomalous Fermi pockets on Hund's metal surface of Sr2RuO4 induced by the correlation-enhanced spin-orbit coupling
• Three-dimensional Stacking of Canted Antiferromagnetism and Pseudospin Current in Undoped Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$: Symmetry Analysis and Microscopic Model Realization
• Microscopic model realization of $\mathbf{d}$-wave pseudospin current order in Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$
• Hopf symmetry protected topological phases in the vicinity of spin orders
• Spontaneous emergence of altermagnetism in the single-orbital extended Hubbard model
• Orbital-Selective Spin-Orbit Mott Insulator in Fractional Valence Iridate La${}_3$Ir${}_3$O${}_{11}$