Novel Jeff=1/2 Mott state induced by relativistic spin-orbit coupling in Sr2IrO4.
We investigated the electronic structure of 5d transition-metal oxide Sr2IrO4 using angle-resolved photoemission, optical conductivity, x-ray absorption measurements, and first-principles band calculations. The system was found to be well described by novel effective total angular momentum Jeff states, in which the relativistic spin-orbit coupling is fully taken into account under a large crystal field. Despite delocalized Ir 5d states, the Jeff states form such narrow bands that even a small correlation energy leads to the Jeff=1/2 Mott ground state with unique electronic and magnetic behaviors, suggesting a new class of Jeff quantum spin driven correlated-electron phenomena.
Kim
B J
BJ
School of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-747, Korea.
Jin
Hosub
H
Moon
S J
SJ
Kim
J-Y
JY
Park
B-G
BG
Leem
C S
CS
Yu
Jaejun
J
Noh
T W
TW
Kim
C
C
Oh
S-J
SJ
Park
J-H
JH
Durairaj
V
V
Cao
G
G
Rotenberg
E
E