Electronic Structure and Magnetism of the Triple-layered Ruthenate Sr$_{4}$Ru$_{3}$O$_{10}$

TL;DR

This study uses electronic structure calculations to explore the magnetic and electronic properties of Sr$_{4}$Ru$_{3}$O$_{10}$, revealing the importance of Coulomb interactions and providing insights into its ferromagnetic and metamagnetic behavior.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates the significant effects of Coulomb Hubbard U on the Fermi surface and magnetic properties, aligning theoretical results with experimental ARPES data.

Findings

Ferromagnetic ground state consistent with experiments

Coulomb U dramatically alters Fermi surface features

Narrow bands near Fermi level may explain metamagnetism

Abstract

We report electronic band structure calculations for Sr$_{4}$Ru$_{3}$O$_{10}$ that displays both ferromagnetic and metamagnetic behavior. The density functional calculations find the ground state to be ferromagnetic in agreement with the experiment and we find that the inclusion of Coulomb Hubbard interaction U applied to the Ru 4d states has dramatic effects on the Fermi surface, which reveal the role of Coulomb interactions and correlated many-body physics. The minority spin bands are mainly empty with Fermi surfaces in the outer areas of the Brillouin zone away from the $\Gamma$ point with bands that disperse steeply upward. The majority spin bands are full or nearly fully occupied and form narrow bands near the Fermi energy around the $\Gamma$ point, which could be the electronic origin of the metamagnetism. The results are in qualitative agreement with recent angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments and show the need for a combined theoretical study and experimental ARPES investigation with better energy resolution to reveal the nature of the narrow bands close to the Fermi-level, which is critical for understanding the exotic magnetic properties observed in this material.