Collapse of the Mott Gap and Emergence of a Nodal Liquid in Lightly Doped${\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{IrO}}_{4}$

Abstract

We report angle resolved photoemission experiments on the electron doped Heisenberg antiferromagnet (Sr(1-x)La(x))(2)IrO(4). For a doping level of x=0.05, we find an unusual metallic state with coherent nodal excitations and an antinodal pseudogap bearing strong similarities with underdoped cuprates. This state emerges from a rapid collapse of the Mott gap with doping resulting in a large underlying Fermi surface that is backfolded by a (π,π) reciprocal lattice vector which we attribute to the intrinsic structural distortion of Sr(2)IrO(4).