TY - JOUR
T1 - Electronic and optical properties of La-doped S r3 i r2 O7 epitaxial thin films
AU - Souri, M.
AU - Terzic, J.
AU - Johnson, J. M.
AU - Connell, J. G.
AU - Gruenewald, J. H.
AU - Thompson, J.
AU - Brill, J. W.
AU - Hwang, J.
AU - Cao, G.
AU - Seo, A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Physical Society.
PY - 2018/2/14
Y1 - 2018/2/14
N2 - We have investigated structural, transport, and optical properties of tensile strained (Sr1-xLax)3Ir2O7 (x=0, 0.025, 0.05) epitaxial thin films. While high-Tc superconductivity is predicted theoretically in the system, we have observed that all of the samples remain insulating with finite optical gap energies and Mott variable-range hopping characteristics in transport. Cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy indicates that structural defects such as stacking faults appear in this system. The insulating behavior of the La-doped Sr3Ir2O7 thin films is presumably due to disorder-induced localization and ineffective electron doping of La, which brings to light the intriguing difference between epitaxial thin films and bulk single crystals of the iridates.
AB - We have investigated structural, transport, and optical properties of tensile strained (Sr1-xLax)3Ir2O7 (x=0, 0.025, 0.05) epitaxial thin films. While high-Tc superconductivity is predicted theoretically in the system, we have observed that all of the samples remain insulating with finite optical gap energies and Mott variable-range hopping characteristics in transport. Cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy indicates that structural defects such as stacking faults appear in this system. The insulating behavior of the La-doped Sr3Ir2O7 thin films is presumably due to disorder-induced localization and ineffective electron doping of La, which brings to light the intriguing difference between epitaxial thin films and bulk single crystals of the iridates.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.024803
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.024803
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85059594229
VL - 2
JO - Physical Review Materials
JF - Physical Review Materials
IS - 2
M1 - 024803
ER -