A time- and wavelength-resolved optical pump-probe reflectivity study of the Mott insulator Sr<sub>2</sub>IrO<sub>4</sub>

ORAL

Abstract

Photo-induced charge excitations in the copper oxide based antiferromagnetic Mott insulators are able to decay on extremely fast timescales owing to strong spin-charge coupling effects [1]. In recent years, the photo-carrier dynamics of the antiferromagnetic Mott insulator Sr2IrO4 has also become a subject of intensive study [2-4] owing to its similarity to the cuprates in terms of structural, electronic and magnetic properties. Here we examine how the photo-carrier relaxation dynamics of Sr2IrO4 vary with different excitation densities and excitation wavelengths, which access different inter-band transitions, using time-resolved optical reflectivity measurements. We will discuss our results in comparison to the cuprates.

[1] Okamoto, H., et al., Phys. Rev. B 83, 125102 (2011)
[2] Hsieh, D., et al., Phys. Rev. B 86, 035128 (2012)
[3] Dean, M.P.M., et al., Nature Materials (2016)
[4] Piovera, C., et al., Phys. Rev. B 93, 241114(R) (2016)

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Presenters

  • Isabelle Phinney

    • Caltech

Authors

  • Isabelle Phinney

    • Caltech

  • Alberto De la Torre

    • Department of Quantum Matter Physics, University of Geneva
    • Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology
    • Caltech

  • Xiang Chen

    • UC Santa Barbara
    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Stephen Wilson

    • University of California, Santa Barbara
    • Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara
    • Materials, University of California Santa Barbara
    • Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara
    • UC Santa Barbara

  • David Hsieh

    • California Institute of Technology
    • Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, California Institute of Technology
    • Caltech
    • Caltech, Physics, Math & Astronomy
    • Physics, California Institute of Technology
    • Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology