arXiv subjects

Vamshi M. Katukuri

Publications and source records attributed to Vamshi M. Katukuri.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

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

The electronic structure of the honeycomb lattice iridates Na2IrO3 and Li2IrO3 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 non-cubic 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 A2IrO3. 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 Na2IrO3 and Li2IrO3 can be described as spin-orbit Mott insulators, similar to the square lattice iridate Sr2IrO4.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

CaIrO3 post-perovskite, a j = 1/2 quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnet

The 5d5 iridate CaIrO3 is isostructural with the post-perovskite phase of MgSiO3, recently shown to occur under extreme pressure in the lower Earth's mantle. It therefore serves as an analogue of post-perovskite MgSiO3 for a wide variety of measurements at ambient conditions or achievable with conventional multianvile pressure modules. By multireference configuration-interaction calculations we here provide essential information on the chemical bonding and magnetic interactions in CaIrO3. We predict a large antiferromagnetic superexchange of 120 meV along the c axis, the same size with the interactions in the cuprate superconductors, and ferromagnetic couplings smaller by an order of magnitude along a. CaIrO3 can thus be regarded as a j = 1/2 quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnet. While this qualitatively agrees with the stripy magnetic structure proposed by resonant x-ray diffraction, the detailed microscopic picture emerging from our study, in particular, the highly uneven admixture of t2g components, provides a clear prediction for resonant inelastic x-ray scattering experiments.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Ab initio determination of excitation energies and magnetic couplings in correlated, quasi two-dimensional iridates

To determine the strength of essential electronic and magnetic interactions in the iridates Sr$_2$IrO$_4$ and Ba$_2$IrO$_4$ - potential platforms for high-temperature superconductivity - we use many-body techniques from wavefunction-based electronic-structure theory. Multiplet physics, spin-orbit interactions, and Ir-O hybridization are all treated on equal footing, fully {\it ab initio}. Our calculations put the lowest d-d excitations of Sr$_2$IrO$_4$/Ba$_2$IrO$_4$ at 0.69/0.64 eV, substantially lower than in isostructural cuprates. Charge-transfer excitations start at 3.0/1.9 eV and the magnetic nearest-neighbor exchange coupling is 51/58 meV. Available experimental results are fully consistent with these values, which strongly constrains the parametrization of effective iridate Hamiltonians.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Origin of magnetic interactions and their influence on the structural properties of Ni2MnGa and related compounds

In this work, we perform first principles DFT calculations to investigate the interplay between magnetic and structural properties in Ni2MnGa. We demonstrate that the relative stability of austenite (cubic) and non-modulated martensite (tetragonal) phases depends critically on the magnetic interactions between Mn atoms. While standard approximate DFT functionals stabilize the latter phase, a more accurate treatment of electronic localization and magnetism, obtained with DFT+U, suppresses the non-modulated tetragonal structure for the stoichiometric compound, in better agreement with the experiments. We show that the Anderson impurity model, with Mn atoms treated as magnetic impurities, can explain this observation and that the fine balance between super-exchange RKKY type interactions mediated by Ni d and Ga p orbitals determines the equilibrium structure of the crystal. The Anderson model is also demonstrated to capture the effect of the number of valence electrons per unit cell on the structural properties, often used as an empirical parameter to tune the behavior of Ni2MnGa based alloys. Finally, we show that off-stoichiometric compositions with excess Mn promote transitions to a non-modulated tetragonal structure, in agreement with experiments.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗