Magnetic properties and signatures of ordering in triangular lattice antiferromagnet KCeO2

The magnetic ground state and the crystalline electric field level scheme of the triangular lattice antiferromagnet KCeO 2 are investigated. Below T N = 300 mK, KCeO 2 develops signatures of magnetic order in specific heat measurements and low energy inelastic neutron scattering data. Trivalent Ce 3 + ions in the D 3 d local environment of this compound exhibit large splittings among the lowest three 4 f 1 Kramers doublets defining for the free ion the J = 5 / 2 sextet and a ground state doublet with dipole character, consistent with recent theoretical predictions in M. S. Eldeeb et al. Phys. Rev. Materials 4, 124001 (2020). An unexplained, additional local mode appears, and potential origins of this anomalous mode are discussed.

Breakdown of Magnetic Order in the Pressurized Kitaev Iridate β-Li_{2}IrO_{3}

Temperature-pressure phase diagram of the Kitaev hyperhoneycomb iridate β-Li_{2}IrO_{3} is explored using magnetization, thermal expansion, magnetostriction, and muon spin rotation measurements, as well as single-crystal x-ray diffraction under pressure and ab initio calculations. The Néel temperature of β-Li_{2}IrO_{3} increases with the slope of 0.9  K/GPa upon initial compression, but the reduction in the polarization field H_{c} reflects a growing instability of the incommensurate order. At 1.4 GPa, the ordered state breaks down upon a first-order transition, giving way to a new ground state marked by the coexistence of dynamically correlated and frozen spins. This partial freezing in the absence of any conspicuous structural defects may indicate the classical nature of the resulting pressure-induced spin liquid, an observation paralleled to the increase in the nearest-neighbor off-diagonal exchange Γ under pressure.

Doping Dependence of Collective Spin and Orbital Excitations in the Spin-1 Quantum Antiferromagnet La_{2-x}Sr_{x}NiO_{4} Observed by X Rays

We report the first empirical demonstration that resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) is sensitive to collective magnetic excitations in S=1 systems by probing the Ni L_{3} edge of La_{2-x}Sr_{x}NiO_{4} (x=0, 0.33, 0.45). The magnetic excitation peak is asymmetric, indicating the presence of single and multi-spin-flip excitations. As the hole doping level is increased, the zone boundary magnon energy is suppressed at a much larger rate than that in hole doped cuprates. Based on the analysis of the orbital and charge excitations observed by RIXS, we argue that this difference is related to the orbital character of the doped holes in these two families. This work establishes RIXS as a probe of fundamental magnetic interactions in nickelates opening the way towards studies of heterostructures and ultrafast pump-probe experiments.

Tuning magnetic coupling in Sr2IrO4 thin films with epitaxial strain

We report x-ray resonant magnetic scattering and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering studies of epitaxially strained Sr2IrO4 thin films. The films were grown on SrTiO3 and (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.7 substrates, under slight tensile and compressive strains, respectively. Although the films develop a magnetic structure reminiscent of bulk Sr2IrO4, the magnetic correlations are extremely anisotropic, with in-plane correlation lengths significantly longer than the out-of-plane correlation lengths. In addition, the compressive (tensile) strain serves to suppress (enhance) the magnetic ordering temperature TN, while raising (lowering) the energy of the zone-boundary magnon. Quantum chemical calculations show that the tuning of magnetic energy scales can be understood in terms of strain-induced changes in bond lengths.

Crystal-field splitting and correlation effect on the electronic structure of A2IrO3

The electronic structure of the honeycomb lattice iridates Na(2)IrO(3) and Li(2)IrO(3) has been investigated using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS). Crystal-field-split d-d excitations are resolved in the high-resolution RIXS spectra. In particular, the splitting due to noncubic crystal fields, derived from the splitting of j(eff)=3/2 states, is much smaller than the typical spin-orbit energy scale in iridates, validating the applicability of j(eff) physics in A(2)IrO(3). We also find excitonic enhancement of the particle-hole excitation gap around 0.4 eV, indicating that the nearest-neighbor Coulomb interaction could be large. These findings suggest that both Na(2)IrO(3) and Li(2)IrO(3) can be described as spin-orbit Mott insulators, similar to the square lattice iridate Sr(2)IrO(4).

Testing the validity of the strong spin-orbit-coupling limit for octahedrally coordinated iridate compounds in a model system Sr3CuIrO6

The electronic structure of Sr3CuIrO6, a model system for the 5d Ir ion in an octahedral environment, is studied through a combination of resonant inelastic x-ray scattering and theoretical calculations. Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering spectra at the Ir L3 edge reveal an Ir t(2g) manifold that is split into three levels, in contrast to the expectations of the strong spin-orbit-coupling limit. Effective Hamiltonian and ab inito quantum chemistry calculations find a strikingly large noncubic crystal field splitting comparable to the spin-orbit coupling, which results in a strong mixing of the j(eff)=1/2 and j(eff)=3/2 states and modifies the isotropic wave functions on which many theoretical models are based.

Correlated electrons in Fe-As compounds: a quantum chemical perspective

State-of-the-art quantum chemical methods are applied to the study of the multiorbital correlated electronic structure of a Fe-As compound, the recently discovered LiFeAs. Our calculations predict a high-spin, S=2, ground-state configuration for the Fe ions, which shows that the on-site Coulomb interactions are substantial. Also, orbital degeneracy in the (xz, yz) sector and a three-quarter filling of these levels suggest the presence of strong fluctuations and are compatible with a low metallic conductivity in the normal state. The lowest electron-removal states have As 4p character, in analogy with the ligand hole states in p-type cuprate superconductors.

Quasiparticle bands in cuprates by quantum-chemical methods: towards an ab initio description of strong electron correlations

Realistic electronic-structure calculations for correlated Mott insulators are notoriously difficult. Here we present an ab initio multiconfiguration scheme that adequately describes strong correlation effects involving Cu 3d and O 2p electrons in layered cuprates. In particular, the O 2p states giving rise to the Zhang-Rice band are explicitly considered. Renormalization effects due to nonlocal spin interactions are also treated consistently. We show that the dispersion of the lowest band observed in photoemission is reproduced with quantitative accuracy. Additionally, the evolution of the Fermi surface with doping follows directly from our ab initio data. Our results thus open a new avenue for the first-principles investigation of the electronic structure of correlated Mott insulators.

Magnetic interactions in calcium and sodium ladder vanadates

Magnetic interactions in ladder vanadates are determined with quantum chemical computational schemes using the embedded cluster model approach to represent the material. The available experimental data for calcium vanadate is accurately reproduced and the nature of the interladder interaction is established to be ferromagnetic. An analysis of the main contributions to the magnetic couplings is presented and the role of the covalently bonded apex oxygen is elucidated. In the sodium vanadate, the ground state configuration of the rungs is V-3d1-O-2p5-V-3d1. We show that with this configuration good intrachain coupling constants are obtained for the high-temperature phase. The interchain coupling in NaV2O5 is predicted to be approximately 34 K, ferromagnetic in nature.

Theoretical characterization of the ground and optically excited states of alpha'-NaV2O5

The character of the ground and optically excited states was investigated by quantum chemical calculations. We propose a rung ground state with V 3d(1)(xy)-O 2p(1)(y)-V 3d(1)(xy) character, instead of the conventional picture of one unpaired electron shared by 2 V ions. The unpaired electron on O is low-spin coupled to the V d electrons and spin density is predicted to be localized on vanadium. The absorption peak at 0.9 eV is assigned to a state with similar orbital occupations but a different spin coupling scheme, resulting in spin density localized on the bridging oxygen.