Epitaxial growth and antiferromagnetism of Sn-substituted perovskite iridate SrIr${}_{0.8}$Sn${}_{0.2}$O${}_3$

Abstract

5d iridates have shown vast emergent phenomena due to a strong interplay among its lattice, charge and spin degrees of freedom, because of which the potential in spintronic application of the thin-film form is highly leveraged. Here we have epitaxially stabilized perovskite SrIr${}_{0.8}$Sn${}_{0.2}$O${}_3$ on [001] SrTiO${}_3$ substrates through pulsed laser deposition and systematically characterized the structural, electronic and magnetic properties. Physical properties measurements unravel an insulating ground state with a weak ferromagnetism in the compressively strained epitaxial film. The octahedral rotation pattern is identified by synchrotron x-ray diffraction, resolving a mix of $a^{+}{b}^{-}{c}^{-}$ and $a^{-}{b}^{+}{c}^{-}$ domains. X-ray magnetic resonant scattering directly demonstrates a G-type antiferromagnetic structure of the magnetic order and the spin canting nature of the weak ferromagnetism.

Accepted by Physical Review Material