title: Imaging the evolution of metallic states in a correlated iridate.
abstract: The Ruddlesden-Popper series of iridates (Srn+1IrnO3n+1) have been the subject of much recent attention due to the anticipation of emergent phenomena arising from the cooperative action of spin-orbit-driven band splitting and Coulomb interactions. However, an ongoing debate over the role of correlations in the formation of the charge gap and a lack of understanding of the effects of doping on the low-energy electronic structure have hindered experimental progress in realizing many of the predicted states. Using scanning tunnelling spectroscopy we map out the spatially resolved density of states in Sr3Ir2O7 (Ir327). We show that its parent compound, argued to exist only as a weakly correlated band insulator, in fact possesses a substantial ~ 130 meV charge excitation gap driven by an interplay between structure, spin-orbit coupling and correlations. We find that single-atom defects are associated with a strong electronic inhomogeneity, creating an important distinction between the intrinsic and spatially averaged electronic structure. Combined with first-principles calculations, our measurements reveal how defects at specific atomic sites transfer spectral weight from higher energies to the gap energies, providing a possible route to obtaining metallic electronic states from the parent insulating states in the iridates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Walkup
authors.forename: Hsin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chetan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dhital
authors.forename: Tay-Rong
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Sovit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khadka
authors.forename: Wenwen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Horng-Tay
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Jeng
authors.forename: Mandar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paranjape
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bansil
authors.forename: Ziqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Vidya
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Madhavan