Local orbital degeneracy lifting as a precursor to an orbital-selective Peierls transition

E. S. Bozin (), W. G. Yin, R. J. Koch, M. Abeykoon, Y. S. Hor, H. Zheng, H. C. Lei, C. Petrovic, J. F. Mitchell and S. J. L. Billinge ()
Additional contact information
E. S. Bozin: Brookhaven National Laboratory
W. G. Yin: Brookhaven National Laboratory
R. J. Koch: Brookhaven National Laboratory
M. Abeykoon: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Y. S. Hor: Argonne National Laboratory
H. Zheng: Argonne National Laboratory
H. C. Lei: Brookhaven National Laboratory
C. Petrovic: Brookhaven National Laboratory
J. F. Mitchell: Argonne National Laboratory
S. J. L. Billinge: Brookhaven National Laboratory

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Fundamental electronic principles underlying all transition metal compounds are the symmetry and filling of the d-electron orbitals and the influence of this filling on structural configurations and responses. Here we use a sensitive local structural technique, x-ray atomic pair distribution function analysis, to reveal the presence of fluctuating local-structural distortions at high temperature in one such compound, CuIr2S4. We show that this hitherto overlooked fluctuating symmetry-lowering is electronic in origin and will modify the energy-level spectrum and electronic and magnetic properties. The explanation is a local, fluctuating, orbital-degeneracy-lifted state. The natural extension of our result would be that this phenomenon is likely to be widespread amongst diverse classes of partially filled nominally degenerate d-electron systems, with potentially broad implications for our understanding of their properties.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11372-w

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