Tuning electronic structure via epitaxial strain in Sr2IrO 4 thin films

J. Nichols; J. Terzic; E. G. Bittle; O. B. Korneta; L. E. De Long; J. W. Brill; G. Cao; S. S.A. Seo

doi:10.1063/1.4801877

Tuning electronic structure via epitaxial strain in Sr₂IrO ₄ thin films

J. Nichols, J. Terzic, E. G. Bittle, O. B. Korneta, L. E. De Long, J. W. Brill, G. Cao, S. S.A. Seo

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

89 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have synthesized epitaxial Sr₂IrO₄ thin-films on various substrates and studied their electronic structure as a function of lattice-strain. Under tensile (compressive) strain, increased (decreased) Ir-O-Ir bond-angle is expected to result in increased (decreased) electronic bandwidth. However, we have observed that the two optical absorption peaks near 0.5 eV and 1.0 eV are shifted to higher (lower) energies under tensile (compressive) strain, indicating that the electronic-correlation energy is also affected by in-plane lattice-strain. The effective tuning of electronic structure under lattice-modification provides an important insight into the physics driven by the coexisting strong spin-orbit coupling and electronic correlation.

Original language	English
Article number	141908
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	102
Issue number	14
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4801877
State	Published - Apr 8 2013

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank B. I. Min, H.-Y. Kee, G. Jackeli, S. J. Moon, D. Haskel, and B. J. Kim for insightful discussions. This research was supported by the NSF through Grant No. EPS-0814194 (the Center for Advanced Materials), Grant Nos. DMR-0800367, DMR-0856234, by U.S. DoE through Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER45653, and by the Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation with the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation through Grant Agreement No. KSEF-148-502-12-303.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

Access to Document

10.1063/1.4801877

Cite this

@article{61948019f2ba4141aa9a6d09a4ea9966,

title = "Tuning electronic structure via epitaxial strain in Sr2IrO 4 thin films",

abstract = "We have synthesized epitaxial Sr2IrO4 thin-films on various substrates and studied their electronic structure as a function of lattice-strain. Under tensile (compressive) strain, increased (decreased) Ir-O-Ir bond-angle is expected to result in increased (decreased) electronic bandwidth. However, we have observed that the two optical absorption peaks near 0.5 eV and 1.0 eV are shifted to higher (lower) energies under tensile (compressive) strain, indicating that the electronic-correlation energy is also affected by in-plane lattice-strain. The effective tuning of electronic structure under lattice-modification provides an important insight into the physics driven by the coexisting strong spin-orbit coupling and electronic correlation.",

author = "J. Nichols and J. Terzic and Bittle, {E. G.} and Korneta, {O. B.} and {De Long}, {L. E.} and Brill, {J. W.} and G. Cao and Seo, {S. S.A.}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank B. I. Min, H.-Y. Kee, G. Jackeli, S. J. Moon, D. Haskel, and B. J. Kim for insightful discussions. This research was supported by the NSF through Grant No. EPS-0814194 (the Center for Advanced Materials), Grant Nos. DMR-0800367, DMR-0856234, by U.S. DoE through Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER45653, and by the Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation with the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation through Grant Agreement No. KSEF-148-502-12-303.",

year = "2013",

month = apr,

day = "8",

doi = "10.1063/1.4801877",

language = "English",

volume = "102",

number = "14",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Tuning electronic structure via epitaxial strain in Sr2IrO 4 thin films

AU - Nichols, J.

AU - Terzic, J.

AU - Bittle, E. G.

AU - Korneta, O. B.

AU - De Long, L. E.

AU - Brill, J. W.

AU - Cao, G.

AU - Seo, S. S.A.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank B. I. Min, H.-Y. Kee, G. Jackeli, S. J. Moon, D. Haskel, and B. J. Kim for insightful discussions. This research was supported by the NSF through Grant No. EPS-0814194 (the Center for Advanced Materials), Grant Nos. DMR-0800367, DMR-0856234, by U.S. DoE through Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER45653, and by the Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation with the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation through Grant Agreement No. KSEF-148-502-12-303.

PY - 2013/4/8

Y1 - 2013/4/8

N2 - We have synthesized epitaxial Sr2IrO4 thin-films on various substrates and studied their electronic structure as a function of lattice-strain. Under tensile (compressive) strain, increased (decreased) Ir-O-Ir bond-angle is expected to result in increased (decreased) electronic bandwidth. However, we have observed that the two optical absorption peaks near 0.5 eV and 1.0 eV are shifted to higher (lower) energies under tensile (compressive) strain, indicating that the electronic-correlation energy is also affected by in-plane lattice-strain. The effective tuning of electronic structure under lattice-modification provides an important insight into the physics driven by the coexisting strong spin-orbit coupling and electronic correlation.

AB - We have synthesized epitaxial Sr2IrO4 thin-films on various substrates and studied their electronic structure as a function of lattice-strain. Under tensile (compressive) strain, increased (decreased) Ir-O-Ir bond-angle is expected to result in increased (decreased) electronic bandwidth. However, we have observed that the two optical absorption peaks near 0.5 eV and 1.0 eV are shifted to higher (lower) energies under tensile (compressive) strain, indicating that the electronic-correlation energy is also affected by in-plane lattice-strain. The effective tuning of electronic structure under lattice-modification provides an important insight into the physics driven by the coexisting strong spin-orbit coupling and electronic correlation.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84876384626&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84876384626&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1063/1.4801877

DO - 10.1063/1.4801877

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84876384626

SN - 0003-6951

VL - 102

JO - Applied Physics Letters

JF - Applied Physics Letters

IS - 14

M1 - 141908

ER -