Interplay between spin-orbit coupling and Van Hove singularity in the Hund's metallicity of Sr2RuO4

Abstract

© 2020 American Physical Society. We investigate the roles of spin-orbit coupling and the Van Hove singularity in the dynamical properties of Sr2RuO4, which become prominent at zero and very low temperature, by means of density functional theory plus dynamical mean-field theory with an exact diagonalization solver. We examine the crossover between a Fermi liquid and a Hund's metal for a wide range of temperatures and Hund's coupling. In the absence of doping, we confirm that the Fermi liquid persists at zero temperature even with nonzero Hund's coupling. The freezing-moment mechanism suggests that thermal fluctuations lead to a suppression of the Fermi liquid phase and promote Hund's metallicity with incoherence. We show that the Van Hove singularity is an additional key ingredient to drive the suppression at very low temperature by observing a doping dependence of the freezing or long-lived paramagnetic moments. The role of spin-orbit coupling is marked by an amplified Van Vleck contribution of spin susceptibility, significantly promoting Hund's metallicity. Together with the known doping dependence of Hund's metallicity, the additional Van Hove singularity doping dependence found here may allow for the control of the Hund's metallicity of Sr2RuO4(t2g4) by a fine tuning of the doping or possibly even strain