Local electronic structure of RuO<sub>2</sub>
ORAL
Abstract
Despite being historically identified as a paramagnetic semi-metal, RuO2 has received heightened interest for its recently discovered itinerant antiferromagnetism, novel Hall effects and strain-induced superconductivity. Microscopic understanding and further manipulation of these properties demands resolving the relative roles of the unique rutile crystal field and 4d spin-orbit coupling in the electronic structure. In this talk, I will discuss recent results of M3-edge (3p-4d) resonant inelastic X-Ray scattering experiments on bulk RuO2. Through identification of the dd-excitations, their resonance behavior and comparison to multiplet calculations, we are able to place definitive constraints on the contributions of the low-symmetry crystal field and spin-orbit coupling in the local orbital energetics. Our results have implications for the balance of these interactions across the 3d, 4d and 5d rutile oxides and provide a path toward determining the local strain-induced orbital modifications which result in superconductivity.
*This work was supported by the DOE Office of Science under Contract No. DE-SC0012704 and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program under grant FA9550-19-1-0063.
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Presenters
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Connor Occhialini
- Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology