Nearly itinerant electronic groundstate in the intercalated honeycomb iridate Ag${}_3$LiIr${}_2$O${}_6$

Abstract

We use x-ray spectroscopy at Ir L${}_3$/L${}_2$ absorption edge to study powder samples of the intercalated honeycomb magnet Ag${}_3$LiIr${}_2$O${}_6$. Based on x-ray absorption and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering measurements, and exact diagonalization calculations including next-neighbour Ir-Ir electron hoping integrals, we argue that the intercalation of Ag atoms results in a nearly itinerant electronic structure with enhanced Ir-O hybridization. As a result of the departure from the local relativistic $j_{\mathrm{eff}}=1/2$ state, we find that the relative orbital contribution to the magnetic moment is increased, and the magnetization density is spatially extended and asymmetric. Our results confirm the importance of metal - ligand hybridazation in the magnetism of transition metal oxides and provide empirical guidance for understanding the collective magnetism in intercalated honeycomb iridates.

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Magnetic excitations in double perovskite iridates La${}_2$$M$IrO${}_6$ ($M$ = Co, Ni, and Zn) mediated by 3$d$-5$d$ hybridization
• Role of disorder in the electronic and magnetic properties of Ag${}_3$LiIr${}_2$O${}_6$
• Non-local features of the spin-orbit exciton in Kitaev materials