Applied Microscopy

Korean Society of Microscopy (한국현미경학회)
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Review on Electronic Correlations and the Metal-Insulator Transition in SrRuO3

  • Pang, Subeen (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Seoul National University)
  • Received : 2017.08.10
  • Accepted : 2017.09.18
  • Published : 2017.09.30
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Abstract

The classical electron band theory is a powerful tool to describe the electronic structures of solids. However, the band theory and corresponding density functional theory become inappropriate if a system comprises localized electrons in a scenario wherein strong electron correlations cannot be neglected. $SrRuO_3$ is one such system, and the partially localized d-band electrons exhibit some interesting behaviors such as enhanced effective mass, spectral incoherency, and oppression of ferromagnetism and itinerancy. In particular, a Metal-Insulator transition occurs when the thickness of $SrRuO_3$ approaches approximately four unit cells. In the computational studies, irrespective of the inclusion of on-site Hubbard repulsion and Hund's coupling parameters, correctly depicting the correlation effects is difficult. Because the oxygen atoms and the symmetry of octahedra are known to play important roles in the system, scrutinizing both the electronic band structure and the lattice system of $SrRuO_3$ is required to find the origin of the correlated behaviors. Transmission electron microscopy is a promising solution to this problem because of its integrated functionalities, which include atomic-resolution imaging and electron energy loss spectroscopy.

Keywords

References

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