title: First-Order Melting of a Weak Spin-Orbit Mott Insulator into a Correlated Metal.
abstract: The electronic phase diagram of the weak spin-orbit Mott insulator (Sr(1-x)La(x))(3)Ir(2)O(7) is determined via an exhaustive experimental study. Upon doping electrons via La substitution, an immediate collapse in resistivity occurs along with a narrow regime of nanoscale phase separation comprised of antiferromagnetic, insulating regions and paramagnetic, metallic puddles persisting until x≈0.04. Continued electron doping results in an abrupt, first-order phase boundary where the Néel state is suppressed and a homogenous, correlated, metallic state appears with an enhanced spin susceptibility and local moments. As the metallic state is stabilized, a weak structural distortion develops and suggests a competing instability with the parent spin-orbit Mott state.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.|Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hogan
authors.affiliation: Canadian Neutron Beam Centre, National Research Council, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada K0J 1P0.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yamani
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Walkup
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.|Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.|Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dally
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas Z
authors.initials: TZ
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.affiliation: Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA.
authors.forename: M P M
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.affiliation: Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: The Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Vidya
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Madhavan
authors.affiliation: Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Wilson