High-resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering study of the electron-phonon coupling in honeycomb $\alpha$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$

Abstract

The excitations in honeycomb $\alpha$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$ have been investigated with high-resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the O K edge. The low-energy response is dominated by a fully resolved ladder of excitations, which we interpret as being due to multi-phonon processes in the presence of strong electron-phonon coupling (EPC). At higher energies, the orbital excitations are shown to be dressed by phonons. The high quality of the data permits a quantitative test of the analytical model for the RIXS cross-section, which has been proposed to describe EPC in transition metal oxides (TMOs). We find that the magnitude of the EPC is comparable to that found for a range of 3d TMOs. This indicates that EPC may be of equal importance in determining the phenomenology displayed by corresponding 5d based systems.

Accepted in Physical Review B

References in corpus (14)

• Mott Insulators in the Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling Limit: From Heisenberg to a Quantum Compass and Kitaev Models
• Models and Materials for Generalized Kitaev Magnetism
• Hyper-honeycomb iridate $\beta$-Li2IrO3 as a platform for Kitaev magnetism
• Crystal field splitting and correlation effect on the electronic structure of A2IrO3
• Non-coplanar and counter-rotating incommensurate magnetic order stabilized by Kitaev interactions in $\gamma$-Li2IrO3
• Unconventional magnetic order on the hyperhoneycomb Kitaev lattice in $\beta$-Li2IrO3: full solution via magnetic resonant x-ray diffraction
• Excitonic quasiparticles in a spin-orbit Mott insulator
• Raman spectroscopic signature of fractionalized excitations in the harmonic-honeycomb iridates $\beta$- and $\gamma$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• Experimental Determination of Momentum-Resolved Electron-Phonon Coupling
• Polarization resolved Cu $L_3$-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering of orbital and spin excitations in NdBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$
• Dispersive Magnetic and Electronic Excitations in Iridate Perovskites Probed with Oxygen $K$-Edge Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering
• High-pressure versus isoelectronic doping effect on the honeycomb iridate Na${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• Lattice coupling and Franck-Condon effects in K-edge resonant inelastic X-ray scattering
• Resolving the nature of electronic excitations in resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Beyond Kitaev physics in strong spin-orbit coupled magnets
• Generalization of the Franck-Condon model for phonon excitations by resonant inelastic X-ray scattering
• Nearly itinerant electronic groundstate in the intercalated honeycomb iridate Ag${}_3$LiIr${}_2$O${}_6$
• Magnon-spinon dichotomy in the Kitaev hyperhoneycomb $\beta$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• Probing electron-phonon interactions away from the Fermi level with resonant inelastic x-ray scattering
• Magnetic excitations in double perovskite iridates La${}_2$$M$IrO${}_6$ ($M$ = Co, Ni, and Zn) mediated by 3$d$-5$d$ hybridization
• Optical magnons with dominant bond-directional exchange interactions in a honeycomb lattice iridate $\alpha$-Li${}_2$IrO${}_3$
• RIXS interferometry and the role of disorder in the quantum magnet Ba${}_3$Ti${}_{3-x}$Ir${}_x$O${}_9$
• Beyond the single-site approximation modeling of electron-phonon coupling effects on resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectra
• Theory of electron-phonon interactions in extended correlated systems probed by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering
• Decoupling of Static and Dynamic Charge Correlations revealed by Uniaxial Strain in a Cuprate Superconductor
• Spin-orbital-lattice entanglement in the ideal j=1/2 compound K${}_2$IrCl${}_6$
• Non-local features of the spin-orbit exciton in Kitaev materials
• A set-up for Hard X-ray Time-resolved Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering at SwissFEL
• Strong long-wavelength electron-phonon coupling in Ta${}_2$Ni(Se,S)${}_5$