Coexisting charge and magnetic orders in the dimer-chain iridate B a5AlI r2 O11

J. Terzic, J. C. Wang, Feng Ye, W. H. Song, S. J. Yuan, S. Aswartham, L. E. Delong, S. V. Streltsov, D. I. Khomskii, G. Cao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have synthesized and studied single-crystal Ba5AlIr2O11 that features dimer chains of two inequivalent octahedra occupied by tetravalent Ir4+(5d5) and pentavalent Ir5+(5d4) ions, respectively. Ba5AlIr2O11 is a Mott insulator that undergoes a subtle structural phase transition near TS=210K and a magnetic transition at TM=4.5K; the latter transition is surprisingly resistant to applied magnetic fields μoH≤12T but more sensitive to modest applied pressure (dTM/dp≈+0.61K/GPa). All results indicate that the phase transition at TS signals an enhanced charge order that induces electrical dipoles and strong dielectric response near TS. It is clear that the strong covalency and spin-orbit interaction (SOI) suppress double exchange in Ir dimers and stabilize a novel magnetic state that is neither S=3/2 nor J=1/2, but rather lies in an "intermediate" regime between these two states. The novel behavior of Ba5AlIr2O11 therefore provides unique insights into the physics of SOI along with strong covalency in competition with double-exchange interactions of comparable strength.

Original languageEnglish
Article number235147
JournalPhysical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
Volume91
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 29 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 American Physical Society.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Coexisting charge and magnetic orders in the dimer-chain iridate B a5AlI r2 O11'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this