Metal to insulator transition in ultrathin SrIrO$_{\mathrm{3\thinspace }}$films

POSTER

Abstract

The 5$d$ iridates host a variety of intriguing novel phenomena, such as the spin-orbit Mott insulating state in Sr$_{\mathrm{2}}$IrO$_{\mathrm{4}}$, the potential superconductivity in doped Sr$_{\mathrm{2}}$IrO$_{\mathrm{4}}$, and the semi-metallic ground state in SrIrO$_{\mathrm{3}}$. Here, using a combination of reactive molecular beam epitaxy and \textit{in situ} transport measurements, we grew a series ultrathin films of SrIrO$_{\mathrm{3}}$ and observed a metal to insulator transition when the film thickness is below a critical value.

*We thank National Basic Research Program of China (No. 11574135,2015CB654901) and the National Thousand-Young-Talents Program.

Authors

  • Wei Guo

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

  • Dianxiang Ji

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

  • Zhangwen Mao

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

  • Zhengbin Gu

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

  • Yuefeng Nie*

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

  • Xiaoqing Pan

    • National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
    • Detp. Chem. Eng. and Mater. Sci., and Dept. Phys. and Astro., University of California-Irvine