6533b856fe1ef96bd12b27d3
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Tracking local magnetic dynamics via high-energy charge excitations in a relativistic Mott insulator
Claudio GiannettiAndrea DamascelliSimone PeliSimone PeliRiccardo CominAdolfo AvellaFrancesco BanfiYogesh SinghNicola NembriniNicola NembriniPhilipp GegenwartGabriele FerriniKateryna Foyevtsovasubject
PhysicsElectronic Optical and Magnetic Materials; Condensed Matter PhysicsHigh energyCondensed matter physicsStrongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)Terahertz radiationMott insulatorFOS: Physical sciences02 engineering and technology021001 nanoscience & nanotechnologyCondensed Matter PhysicsSettore FIS/03 - FISICA DELLA MATERIA01 natural sciences3. Good healthCondensed Matter - Strongly Correlated ElectronsZigzagPicosecondLattice (order)0103 physical sciencesElectronicddc:530Optical and Magnetic Materials010306 general physics0210 nano-technologySpectroscopydescription
We use time- and energy-resolved optical spectroscopy to investigate the coupling of electron-hole excitations to the magnetic environment in the relativistic Mott insulator Na$_2$IrO$_3$. We show that, on the picosecond timescale, the photoinjected electron-hole pairs delocalize on the hexagons of the Ir lattice via the formation of quasi-molecular orbital (QMO) excitations and the exchange of energy with the short-range-ordered zig-zag magnetic background. The possibility of mapping the magnetic dynamics, which is characterized by typical frequencies in the THz range, onto high-energy (1-2 eV) charge excitations provides a new platform to investigate, and possibly control, the dynamics of magnetic interactions in correlated materials with strong spin-orbit coupling, even in the presence of complex magnetic phases.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-01-01 |