Persistent insulating state at megabar pressures in strongly spin-orbit coupled Sr2IrO4

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.101.144102

	Persistent insulating state at megabar pressures in strongly spin-orbit coupled Sr2IrO4
	Chen, Chunhua 4,7; Zhou, Yonghui 7; Chen, Xuliang 7; Han, Tao 5; An, Chao 5; Zhou, Ying 4,7; Yuan, Yifang 4,7; Zhang, Bowen 4,7; Wang, Shuyang 4,7; Zhang, Ranran 7
刊名	PHYSICAL REVIEW B
	2020-04-15
卷号	101
ISSN号	2469-9950
DOI	10.1103/PhysRevB.101.144102
通讯作者	Zhou, Yonghui(yhzhou@hmfl.ac.cn)
英文摘要	It is commonly anticipated that an insulating state will collapse in favor of an emergent metallic state at high pressures: The average electron density must increase with pressure, while the electronic bandwidth is expected to broaden and fill the insulating energy band gap. Here we report an unusually stable insulating state that persists up to at least 185 GPa in Sr2IrO4, the archetypical spin-orbit-driven J(eff) = 1/2 insulator. This study shows that the electrical resistance R of single-crystal Sr2IrO4 initially decreases with applied pressure P, reaches a minimum in the range 32-38 GPa, then abruptly rises to recover the insulating state with increasing P up to 185 GPa. However, evidence of a saturation of R below 80 K for P >= 124 GPa GPa raises the possibility of a low-temperature exotic state. Our synchrotron x-ray diffraction and Raman scattering data show the emergence of the rapid increase in R is accompanied by a structural phase transition from the native tetragonal I-41/acd phase to an orthorhombic Pbca phase (with much reduced symmetry) at 40.6 GPa. The clear correspondence of the onset pressures of these two anomalies is key to understanding the stability of the insulating state at megabar pressures: Pressure-induced, structural distortions prevent the expected onset of metallization, despite the sizable volume compression attained at the highest pressure accessed in this study.
资助项目	National Key Research and Development Program of China[2018YFA0305700] ; National Key Research and Development Program of China[2016YFA0401804] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)[11574323] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)[U1632275] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)[11874362] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)[11804344] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)[U1832209] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)[11704387] ; Users with Excellence Project of Hefei Science Center CAS[2018HSCUE012] ; Major Program of Development Foundation of Hefei Center for Physical Science and Technology[2018ZYFX002] ; Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS[2020443] ; US National Science Foundation[DMR 1712101] ; US National Science Foundation[1903888] ; U.S. National Science Foundation[DMR-1506979]
WOS关键词	SUPERCONDUCTIVITY ; DIFFRACTION ; HYDRIDE
WOS研究方向	Materials Science ; Physics
语种	英语
出版者	AMER PHYSICAL SOC
WOS记录号	WOS:000525841000002
资助机构	National Key Research and Development Program of China ; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) ; Users with Excellence Project of Hefei Science Center CAS ; Major Program of Development Foundation of Hefei Center for Physical Science and Technology ; Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS ; US National Science Foundation ; U.S. National Science Foundation
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://ir.hfcas.ac.cn:8080/handle/334002/103697]
专题	中国科学院合肥物质科学研究院
通讯作者	Zhou, Yonghui
作者单位	1.Nanjing Univ, Collaborat Innovat Ctr Adv Microstruct, Nanjing 210093, Peoples R China 2.Univ Kentucky, Dept Phys & Astron, Lexington, KY 40506 USA 3.Univ Colorado, Dept Phys, Boulder, CO 80309 USA 4.Univ Sci & Technol China, Grad Sch, Sci Isl Branch, Hefei 230026, Peoples R China 5.Anhui Univ, Inst Phys Sci & Informat Technol, Hefei 230601, Peoples R China 6.Chinese Acad Sci, Shanghai Adv Res Inst, Shanghai Synchrotron Radiat Facil, Shanghai 201204, Peoples R China 7.Chinese Acad Sci, High Magnet Field Lab, Anhui Prov Key Lab Condensed Matter Phys Extreme, Hefei 230031, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Chen, Chunhua,Zhou, Yonghui,Chen, Xuliang,et al. Persistent insulating state at megabar pressures in strongly spin-orbit coupled Sr2IrO4[J]. PHYSICAL REVIEW B,2020,101.
APA	Chen, Chunhua.,Zhou, Yonghui.,Chen, Xuliang.,Han, Tao.,An, Chao.,...&Cao, Gang.(2020).Persistent insulating state at megabar pressures in strongly spin-orbit coupled Sr2IrO4.PHYSICAL REVIEW B,101.
MLA	Chen, Chunhua,et al."Persistent insulating state at megabar pressures in strongly spin-orbit coupled Sr2IrO4".PHYSICAL REVIEW B 101(2020).