Pressure tuning of structure, magnetic frustration and carrier conduction in Kitaev spin liquid candidate Cu$_2$IrO$_3$: X-ray, Raman, magnetic susceptibility, resistivity and first-principles analysis

Abstract

The layered honeycomb lattice iridate Cu 2 IrO 3 is the closest realization of the Kitaev quantum spin liquid, primarily due to the enhanced interlayer separation and nearly ideal honeycomb lattice.We report pressure-induced structural evolution of Cu 2 IrO 3 by powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD) up to ∼17 GPa and Raman scattering measurements up to ∼25 GPa. A structural phase transition (monoclinic C2/c → triclinic P 1) is observed with a broad mixed phase pressure range (∼4 to 15 GPa). The triclinic phase consists of heavily distorted honeycomb lattice with Ir-Ir dimer formation and a collapsed interlayer separation. In the stability range of the low-pressure monoclinic phase, structural evolution maintains the Kitaev configuration up to 4 GPa. This is supported by the observed enhanced magnetic frustration in dc susceptibility without emergence of any magnetic ordering and an enhanced dynamic Raman susceptibility. High-pressure resistance measurements up to 25 GPa in the temperature range 1.4-300 K show resilient non-metallic R(T ) behaviour with significantly reduced resistivity in the high-pressure phase. The Mott 3D variable-range-hopping conduction with much reduced characteristic energy scale T 0 suggests that the high-pressure phase is at the boundary of localized-itinerant crossover. Using first-principles density functional theoretical (DFT) calculations, we find that at ambient pressure Cu 2 IrO 3 exists in monoclinic P 2 1 /c phase which is energetically lower than C2/c phase (both the structures are consistent with experimental XRD pattern). DFT reveals structural transition from P 2 1 /c to P 1 structure at 7 GPa (involving dimerization of Ir-Ir bonds) in agreement with experimentally observed transition pressure.