Observation of a novel orbital selective Mott transition in Ca(1.8)Sr(0.2)RuO(4)

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Aug 28;103(9):097001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.097001. Epub 2009 Aug 25.

Abstract

We observed a novel orbital selective Mott transition in Ca(1.8)Sr(0.2)RuO(4) by angle-resolved photoemission. While two sets of dispersing bands and the Fermi surface associated with the doubly degenerate d(yz) and d(zx) orbitals are identified, the Fermi surface associated with the wider d(xy) band is missing as a consequence of selective Mott localization. Our theoretical calculations demonstrate that this orbital selective Mott transition is mainly driven by the combined effects of interorbital carrier transfer, superlattice potential, and orbital degeneracy, whereas the bandwidth difference plays a less important role.