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.
Citation:
Nakayama, M., Kondo, T., Tian, Z., Ishikawa, J. J., Halim, M., Bareille, C., ... & Shin, S. (2016). Slater to Mott crossover in the metal to insulator transition of Nd 2 Ir 2 O 7. Physical review letters, 117(5), 056403.