# Slaving of the magnetic moment canting to the correlated oxygen rotation in Sr2IrO4 revealed by X-ray resonant scattering

S. Boseggia, H. C. Walker, J. Vale, R. Springell, Z. Feng, M. Moretti Sala, H. M. Rønnow, S. P. Collins, D. F. McMorrow

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

77 Citations (Scopus)

## Abstract

Sr2IrO4 is a prototype of the class of Mott insulators in the strong spin-orbit interaction (SOI) limit described by a $J_{\mathrm{eff}}=1/2$ ground state. In Sr2IrO4, the strong SOI is predicted to manifest itself in the slaving of the canting of the magnetic moments to the correlated rotation by 11.8(1)$^{\circ}$ of the oxygen octahedra that characterizes its distorted layered perovskite structure. Using X-ray resonant scattering at the Ir $L_3$ edge we have measured accurately the intensities of Bragg peaks arising from different components of the magnetic structure. From a careful comparison of integrated intensities of peaks due to basal-plane antiferromagnetism, with those due to b-axis ferromagnetism, we deduce a canting of the magnetic moments of 12.2(8)$^{\circ}$. We thus confirm that in Sr2IrO4 the magnetic moments rigidly follow the rotation of the oxygen octahedra, indicating that, even in the presence of significant non-cubic structural distortions, it is a close realization of the $J_{\mathrm{eff}}=1/2$ state
Original language English Journal of Physics Condensed Matter https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/25/42/422202 Published - 29 Aug 2013

### Bibliographical note

9 pages, 5 figures

## Keywords

• cond-mat.str-el

## Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Slaving of the magnetic moment canting to the correlated oxygen rotation in Sr2IrO4 revealed by X-ray resonant scattering'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.