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Slater to Mott Crossover in the Metal to Insulator Transition of Nd2Ir2O7

M. Nakayama, Takeshi Kondo, Z. Tian, J. J. Ishikawa, M. Halim, C. Bareille, W. Malaeb, K. Kuroda, T. Tomita, S. Ideta, K. Tanaka, M. Matsunami, S. Kimura, N. Inami, K. Ono, H. Kumigashira, L. Balents, S. Nakatsuji, and S. Shin
Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 056403 – Published 27 July 2016
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Abstract

We present an angle-resolved photoemission study of the electronic structure of the three-dimensional pyrochlore iridate Nd2Ir2O7 through its magnetic metal-insulator transition. Our data reveal that metallic Nd2Ir2O7 has a quadratic band, touching the Fermi level at the Γ point, similar to that of Pr2Ir2O7. The Fermi node state is, therefore, a common feature of the metallic phase of the pyrochlore iridates. Upon cooling below the transition temperature, this compound exhibits a gap opening with an energy shift of quasiparticle peaks like a band gap insulator. The quasiparticle peaks are strongly suppressed, however, with further decrease of temperature, and eventually vanish at the lowest temperature, leaving a nondispersive flat band lacking long-lived electrons. We thereby identify a remarkable crossover from Slater to Mott insulators with decreasing temperature. These observations explain the puzzling absence of Weyl points in this material, despite its proximity to the zero temperature metal-insulator transition.

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  • Received 18 March 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.056403

© 2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

M. Nakayama1, Takeshi Kondo1,*, Z. Tian1, J. J. Ishikawa1, M. Halim1, C. Bareille1, W. Malaeb1,2, K. Kuroda1, T. Tomita1, S. Ideta3, K. Tanaka3, M. Matsunami4, S. Kimura5, N. Inami6, K. Ono6, H. Kumigashira6, L. Balents7, S. Nakatsuji1,8, and S. Shin1

  • 1ISSP, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan
  • 2Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Beirut Arab University, Beirut 11-5020, Lebanon
  • 3UVSOR Facility, Institute for Molecular Science, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
  • 4Toyota Technological Institute, Nagoya 468-8511, Japan
  • 5Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
  • 6Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan
  • 7Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
  • 8CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), 4-1-8 Honcho Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan

  • *kondo1215@issp.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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Issue

Vol. 117, Iss. 5 — 29 July 2016

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