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Epitaxy-distorted spin-orbit Mott insulator in Sr2IrO 4 thin films

Publication Type

Journal Article

Authors

Serrao, Rayan, J. F. Liu, J.T. Heron, G. Singh-Bhalla, A. Yadav, S.J. Suresha, R.J. Paull, D. Yi, J.-H. Chu, M. Trassin, A. Vishwanath, E. Arenholz, C. Frontera, J. Železný, T. Jungwirth, X. Marti, Ramamoorthy Ramesh

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevB.87.085121

Abstract

High-quality epitaxial thin films of Jeff = 1/2 Mott insulator Sr2IrO4 with increasing in-plane tensile strain have been grown on top of SrTiO3(001) substrates. Increasing the in-plane tensile strain up to ∼0.3% was observed to drop the c/a tetragonality by 1.2%. X-ray absorption spectroscopy detected a strong reduction of the linear dichroism upon increasing in-plane tensile strain towards a reduced anisotropy in the local electronic structure. While the most relaxed thin film shows a consistent dependence with previously reported single crystal bulk measurements, electrical transport reveals a charge gap reduction from 200 meV down to 50 meV for the thinnest and most epitaxy-distorted film. We argue that the reduced tetragonality plays a major role in the change of the electronic structure, which is reflected in the change of the transport properties. Our work opens the possibility for exploiting epitaxial strain as a tool for both structural and functional manipulation of spin-orbit Mott systems. © 2013 American Physical Society.

Journal

Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

Volume

Year of Publication

2013

ISSN

10980121

Research Areas

Ramesh Lab