Epitaxial growth and antiferromagnetism of Sn-substituted perovskite iridate SrIr$_{0.8}$Sn$_{0.2}$O$_3$

TL;DR

This study reports the epitaxial growth of a Sn-substituted iridate thin film exhibiting antiferromagnetism and weak ferromagnetism, revealing complex structural and magnetic properties relevant for spintronic applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates the successful epitaxial stabilization and characterization of SrIr$_{0.8}$Sn$_{0.2}$O$_3$ thin films with novel magnetic order and structural features.

Findings

Insulating ground state with weak ferromagnetism

Identification of G-type antiferromagnetic order

Complex octahedral rotation patterns

Abstract

5d iridates have shown vast emergent phenomena due to a strong interplay among its lattice, charge and spin degrees of freedom, because of which the potential in spintronic application of the thin-film form is highly leveraged. Here we have epitaxially stabilized perovskite SrIr$_{0.8}$Sn$_{0.2}$O$_3$ on [001] SrTiO$_3$ substrates through pulsed laser deposition and systematically characterized the structural, electronic and magnetic properties. Physical properties measurements unravel an insulating ground state with a weak ferromagnetism in the compressively strained epitaxial film. The octahedral rotation pattern is identified by synchrotron x-ray diffraction, resolving a mix of $a^+b^-c^-$ and $a^-b^+c^-$ domains. X-ray magnetic resonant scattering directly demonstrates a G-type antiferromagnetic structure of the magnetic order and the spin canting nature of the weak ferromagnetism.