Observation of Phonon-Assisted Magnon Absorption in Spin-Orbit Coupling Induced Mott Insulator Sr₂IrO₄

The infrared transmission measurement was performed for a two-dimensional spin-orbit coupling induced Mott insulator Sr$_{2}$IrO$_{4}$ with a layered-perovskite structure. A phonon-assisted magnon mode was observed at around 1870 cm$^{-1}$ in the absorption spectrum below 180 K. The nearest-neighbor superexchange interaction $J$ was estimated to be 57 meV, which is about a half of the $J$ value of a copper oxide La$_{2}$CuO$_{4}$. Our results indicate the possibility that nontrivial properties such as superconductivity are realized at rather high temperature in iridium oxides.