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Pressure dependence of the structure and electronic properties of Sr3Ir2O7

Donnerer, C; Feng, Z; Vale, JG; Andreev, SN; Solovyev, IV; Hunter, EC; Hanfland, M; ... McMorrow, DF; + view all (2016) Pressure dependence of the structure and electronic properties of Sr3Ir2O7. Physical Review B , 93 (17) , Article 174118. 10.1103/PhysRevB.93.174118. Green open access

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Abstract

We study the structural evolution of Sr3Ir2O7 as a function of pressure using x-ray diffraction. At a pressure of 54 GPa at room temperature, we observe a first-order structural phase transition, associated with a change from tetragonal to monoclinic symmetry and accompanied by a 4% volume collapse. Rietveld refinement of the high-pressure phase reveals a novel modification of the Ruddlesden-Popper structure, which adopts an altered stacking sequence of the perovskite bilayers. As the positions of the oxygen atoms could not be reliably refined from the data, we use density functional theory (local-density approximation+U+spin orbit) to optimize the crystal structure and to elucidate the electronic and magnetic properties of Sr3Ir2O7 at high pressure. In the low-pressure tetragonal phase, we find that the in-plane rotation of the IrO6 octahedra increases with pressure. The calculations further indicate that a bandwidth-driven insulator-metal transition occurs at ∼20 GPa, along with a quenching of the magnetic moment. In the high-pressure monoclinic phase, structural optimization resulted in complex tilting and rotation of the oxygen octahedra and strongly overlapping t2g and eg bands. The t2g bandwidth renders both the spin-orbit coupling and electronic correlations ineffectual in opening an electronic gap, resulting in a robust metallic state for the high-pressure phase of Sr3Ir2O7.

Type: Article
Title: Pressure dependence of the structure and electronic properties of Sr3Ir2O7
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.93.174118
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.93.174118
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2016 American Physical Society.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > London Centre for Nanotechnology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1485871
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