In-situ anisotropic strain controlled metamagnetism of Sr<sub>2</sub>IrO<sub>4</sub> by pseudo-Jahn-Teller distortion

ORAL

Abstract

In recent years, iridates have been recognized as an ideal material platform where the emergent many-body phenomena mesh with Antiferromagnetic (AF) functionalities. As the prototype, Sr2IrO4 is a quasi-two-dimensional AF Mott insulator of pseudospin-half electrons that exhibits remarkable phenomenological analogy to the high-Tc cuprates. Meanwhile, significant magnetic responses of the AF order in both bulk and thin film samples have been demonstrated, including metamagnetism, giant magnetoresistance, and anisotropic magnetoresistance. The high controllability of the AF order is largely related to the unique electronic structure that the strong spin-orbit coupling of Ir stabilizes the pseudospin-half Kramer doublet while makes no contribution to the magnetic anisotropy. In this study, we drove the metamagnetic transition of Sr2IrO4 bulk crystal into distinct regimes by applying in-situ anisotropic strain. The system was studied with resonant magnetic x-ray scattering and transport measurement. We found the application of anisotropic strain is seen to modulate the pseudospin-lattice coupling, leading to highly efficient magnetoelastic control of the Jeff=1/2 metamagnetism as well as the associated elasto- and magnetoresistance.

–

Presenters

  • Han Zhang

    • University of Tennessee

Authors

  • Han Zhang

    • University of Tennessee

  • Lin Hao

    • University of Tennessee
    • University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  • Junyi Yang

    • University of Tennessee
    • University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  • Joshua Mutch

    • University of Washington

  • Zhaoyu Liu

    • University of Washington

  • Qing Huang

    • University of Tennessee
    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Tennessee
    • University of Tennessee, Knoxville
    • Department of Physics, University of Tennessee
    • Physics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  • Kyle R Noordhoek

    • University of Tennessee

  • Andrew May

    • Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Materials Science & Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Oak Ridge National Lab

  • Jiun-Haw Chu

    • University of Washington
    • Department of Physics, University of Washington
    • Physics, University of Washington

  • Jong Woo Kim

    • APS, Argonne National Laboratory
    • APS, Argonne National Labs
    • Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory
    • Argonne National Laboratory
    • Argonne Natl Lab
    • Argonne National Lab

  • Philip Ryan

    • APS, Argonne National Laboratory
    • APS, Argonne National Labs
    • Argonne National Laboratory

  • Haidong Zhou

    • University of Tennessee
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
    • University of Knoxville, Tennessee
    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Tennessee
    • University of Tennesse, Knoxville
    • Physics and anstronomy, University of Tennessee
    • Department of Physics, University of Tennessee
    • Physics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
    • University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  • Jian Liu

    • University of Tennessee
    • University of Tennessee, Knoxville