Electronic structure and magnetism of the triple-layered ruthenate Sr4Ru3O10

Abstract

We report electronic band structure calculations for Sr$_{4}$Ru$_{3}$O$_{10}$ that displays both ferromagnetic and metamagnetic behavior. The density functional calculations find the ground state to be ferromagnetic in agreement with the experiment and we find that the inclusion of Coulomb Hubbard interaction U applied to the Ru 4d states has dramatic effects on the Fermi surface, which reveal the role of Coulomb interactions and correlated many-body physics. The minority spin bands are mainly empty with Fermi surfaces in the outer areas of the Brillouin zone away from the $\Gamma$ point with bands that disperse steeply upward. The majority spin bands are full or nearly fully occupied and form narrow bands near the Fermi energy around the $\Gamma$ point, which could be the electronic origin of the metamagnetism. The results are in qualitative agreement with recent angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments and show the need for a combined theoretical study and experimental ARPES investigation with better energy resolution to reveal the nature of the narrow bands close to the Fermi-level, which is critical for understanding the exotic magnetic properties observed in this material.