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Mott physics and band topology in materials with strong spin–orbit interaction

Nature Physics volume 6, pages 376–381 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Recent theory and experiment have revealed that strong spin–orbit coupling can have marked qualitative effects on the band structure of weakly interacting solids, leading to a distinct phase of matter, the topological band insulator. We show that spin–orbit interaction also has quantitative and qualitative effects on the correlation-driven Mott insulator transition. Taking Ir-based pyrochlores as a specific example, we predict that for weak electron–electron interaction Ir electrons are in metallic and topological band insulator phases at weak and strong spin–orbit interaction, respectively. We show that by increasing the electron–electron interaction strength, the effects of spin–orbit coupling are enhanced. With increasing interactions, the topological band insulator is transformed into a ‘topological Mott insulator’ phase having gapless surface spin-only excitations. The proposed phase diagram also includes a region of gapless Mott insulator with a spinon Fermi surface, and a magnetically ordered state at still larger electron–electron interaction.

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Figure 1: Phase diagram based on the slave-rotor approximation and strong coupling limit, as a function of Hubbard repulsion U and spin–orbit coupling λ (relative to hopping t).
Figure 2: Pyrochlore lattice and electron hopping.
Figure 3: Electronic band structure of Ir 5d electrons on the pyrochlore lattice at large spin–orbit coupling, .
Figure 4: Surface-state spectrum.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the DOE through Basic Energy Sciences grants DE-FG02-08ER46524 (L.B.) and DEFG02-07ER46452 (D.P.). The research facilities at the KITP were supported by the National Science Foundation grant NSF PHY-0551164.

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  1. Dmytro Pesin

    Present address: Present address: Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA

    Dmytro Pesin

  2. Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA

    Dmytro Pesin & Leon Balents

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  1. Dmytro Pesin
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All authors contributed equally to this work.

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Correspondence to Dmytro Pesin.

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Pesin, D., Balents, L. Mott physics and band topology in materials with strong spin–orbit interaction. Nature Phys 6, 376–381 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1606

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