Engineering spin-orbital magnetic insulator by tailoring superlattices

Abstract

Novel interplay of spin-orbit coupling and electron correlations in complex Ir oxides recently emerged as a new paradigm for correlated electron physics. Because of a large spin-orbit coupling of ~0.5 eV, which is comparable to the transfer energy t and the crystal field splitting $\Delta$ and Coulomb U, a variety of ground states including magnetic insulator, band insulator, semimetal and metal, shows up in a narrow materials phase space. Utilizing such subtle competition of the ground states, we successfully tailor a spin-orbital magnetic insulator out of a semimetal SrIrO$_3$ by controlling dimensionality using superlattice of [(SrIrO$_3$)$_m$, SrTiO$_3$] and show that a magnetic ordering triggers the transition to magnetic insulator. Those results can be described well by a first-principles calculation. This study is an important step towards the design and the realization of topological phases in complex Ir oxides with very strong spin-orbit coupling.