Emergence of non-Fermi liquid behaviors in 5d perovskite SrIrO3 thin films: Interplay between correlation, disorder, and spin-orbit coupling

We investigate the effects of compressive strain on the electrical resistivity of 5d iridium based perovskite SrIrO3 by depositing epitaxial films of thickness 35 nm on various substrates such as GdScO3 (110), DyScO3 (110), and SrTiO3 (001). Surprisingly, we find anomalous transport behaviors as expressed by ρ∝Tε in the temperature dependent resistivity, where the temperature exponent ε evolves continuously from 4/5 to 1 and to 3/2 with an increase of compressive strain. Furthermore, magnetoresistance always remains positive irrespective of resistivity upturns at low temperatures. These observations imply that the delicate interplay between correlation and disorder in the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling is responsible for the emergence of the non-Fermi liquid behaviors in 5d perovskite SrIrO3 thin films. We offer a theoretical framework for the interpretation of the experimental results.