Magnetic ordering and structural phase transitions in a strained ultrathin SrRuO3/SrTiO3 superlattice

Colossal Room-Temperature Ferroelectric Polarizations in SrTiO3/SrRuO3 Superlattices Induced by Oxygen Vacancies

Artificial superlattices have demonstrated many unique phenomena not found in bulk materials. For this investigation, SrTiO₃/SrRuO₃ paraelectric/metallic superlattices with various stacking periods were synthesized via pulsed laser deposition. A robust room-temperature ferroelectric polarization (∼46 μC/cm²) was found in the superlattices with 2 unit cell (u.c.) thick SrRuO₃ layers, despite the fact that neither SrTiO₃ nor SrRuO₃ is inherently ferroelectric. Results obtained from atomically resolved elemental mapping and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy verified that oxygen vacancies accumulated at the SrTiO₃/SrRuO₃ interfaces, causing lattice distortions and increased tetragonality (c/a). The observed ferroelectric responses can be mainly attributed to the broken spatial inversion symmetry induced by the ordered distribution of oxygen vacancies at the SrTiO₃/SrRuO₃ interfaces, coupled with the triggering of external electric field. The resulting polarization mechanism induced by oxygen vacancies suggests viable ways for improving the electrical properties of ferroelectric materials, with the goal of expanding the functionality of a range of electronic devices.

Spin-phonon dispersion in magnetic materials

Microscopic coupling between the electron spin and the lattice vibration is responsible for an array of exotic properties from morphic effects in simple non magnets to magnetodielectric coupling in multiferroic spinels and hematites. Traditionally, a single spin-phonon coupling constant is used to characterize how effectively the lattice can affect the spin, but it is hardly enough to capture novel electromagnetic behaviors to the full extent. Here, we introduce a concept of spin-phonon dispersion to project the spin moment change along the phonon crystal momentum direction, so the entire spin change can be mapped out. Different from the phonon dispersion, the spin-phonon dispersion has both positive and negative frequency branches even in the equilibrium ground state, which correspond to the spin enhancement and spin reduction, respectively. Our study of bcc Fe and hcp Co reveals that the spin force matrix, that is, the second-order spatial derivative of spin moment, is similar to the vibrational force matrix, but its diagonal elements are smaller than the off-diagonal ones. This leads to the distinctive spin-phonon dispersion. The concept of spin-phonon dispersion expands the traditional Elliott-Yafet theory in nonmagnetic materials to the entire Brillouin zone in magnetic materials, thus opening the door to excited states in systems such as CoF₂and NiO, where a strong spin-lattice coupling is detected in the THz regime.

Manipulating the carrier concentration and phase transition via Nb content in SrTiO3

SrTiO3 is a model of the perovskite-like compounds for structural transition which inducing the intriguing physical properties around the critical phase transition temperature TAFD (antiferrodistortive, abbrev. as AFD). Here we report that the electrical transport behavior is a new way to quantify Nb concentration for Nb-doped SrTiO3. The lattice parameter (c), phase transition temperature (TAFD), and the carrier concentration (n) of SrTiO3 may be manipulated by niobium doping. TAFD increases with increasing the niobium content in a rate of about 30 K per (wt%, i.e. niobium element's weight verses total weight) niobium and n in a rate of about 2.5 [Formula: see text] 1020/cm3 per (wt%) niobium.

Symmetry mismatch controlled ferroelastic domain ordering and the functional properties of manganite films on cubic miscut substrates

We have studied the magnetotransport properties and strain release mechanisms in ferroelastic La0.9Sr0.1MnO3 (LSMO) epitaxial thin films on SrTiO3 (STO)(001) substrates with different miscut angles. The substrate miscut angle plays a critical role in releasing shear strain and has a huge impact on the properties of the films. The strain relaxes by monoclinic distortion for films on low miscut substrates and for higher miscut substrates, the strain relaxation causes the formation of periodic twin domains with larger periodicities. We observe that the Curie temperature (TC) decreases systematically, and magnetoresistance (MR) increases with increasing the miscut angle. Such changes in the magnetic and transport properties could be due to the increased density of phase boundaries (PBs) with the increase of miscut angle. This work provides a way to tailor film microstructures and subsequent functional properties of other complex oxide films on miscut substrates with symmetry mismatch.

Modulating the electronic and optical properties for SrTiO3/LaAlO3 bilayers treated as the 2D materials by biaxial strains

The emerging two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene have opened the door to industrial applications. Here, we consider the oxide perovskite monolayer of SrTiO₃ (STO), LaAlO₃ (LAO) and their heterostructures as the 2D transitional metal system. Results show that a band-gap transition from indirect to direct occurs when the separated monolayer STO (indirect band gap of 3.210 eV), and LAO (indirect band gap of 4.024 eV), form the heterostructures (direct band gap of 2.976 eV). The obtained bandgap for the stable bilayers may effectively be modulated by biaxial strains from  -12% to 8%. With 12% compressive biaxial strain, the band gap reduces to be 0.23 eV. The optical properties for the stable bilayers are also tuned by the biaxial strain. When the strain increases from compressive strain to tensile strain, the strongest peak of the imaginary part of dielectric function red shifts to lower energy. In comparing with the monolayer STO and LAO, the elastic property enhances obviously for the stable heterostructure, suggesting the heterostructure can be more stable freestanding or may be applied in device fabrications.

Correlation-driven eightfold magnetic anisotropy in a two-dimensional oxide monolayer

Engineering magnetic anisotropy in two-dimensional systems has enormous scientific and technological implications. The uniaxial anisotropy universally exhibited by two-dimensional magnets has only two stable spin directions, demanding 180° spin switching between states. We demonstrate a previously unobserved eightfold anisotropy in magnetic SrRuO3 monolayers by inducing a spin reorientation in (SrRuO3)1/(SrTiO3) N superlattices, in which the magnetic easy axis of Ru spins is transformed from uniaxial 〈001〉 direction (N < 3) to eightfold 〈111〉 directions (N ≥ 3). This eightfold anisotropy enables 71° and 109° spin switching in SrRuO3 monolayers, analogous to 71° and 109° polarization switching in ferroelectric BiFeO3. First-principle calculations reveal that increasing the SrTiO3 layer thickness induces an emergent correlation-driven orbital ordering, tuning spin-orbit interactions and reorienting the SrRuO3 monolayer easy axis. Our work demonstrates that correlation effects can be exploited to substantially change spin-orbit interactions, stabilizing unprecedented properties in two-dimensional magnets and opening rich opportunities for low-power, multistate device applications.

Scanning SQUID View of Oxide Interfaces

The emergence of states of matter in low-dimensional systems is one of the most intriguing topics in condensed matter physics. Interfaces between nonmagnetic, insulating oxides are found to give rise to surprising behaviors, such as metallic conductivity, superconductivity, and magnetism. Sensitive, noninvasive local characterization tools are essential for understanding the electronic and magnetic behavior of these systems. Here, the scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) technique for local magnetic imaging is described and its contribution to the field of oxide interfaces is reviewed.

Defect-Induced Exchange Bias in a Single SrRuO3 Layer

Exchange bias stems from the interaction between different magnetic phases, and therefore, it generally occurs in magnetic multilayers. Here, we present a large exchange bias in a single SrRuO₃ layer induced by helium ion irradiation. When the fluence increases, the induced defects not only suppress the magnetization and the Curie temperature but also drive a metal-insulator transition at a low temperature. In particular, a large exchange bias field up to ∼0.36 T can be created by the irradiation. This large exchange bias is related to the coexistence of different magnetic and structural phases that are introduced by embedded defects. Our work demonstrates that spintronic properties in complex oxides can be created and enhanced by applying ion irradiation.

Nanoscale Structural Modulation and Low-temperature Magnetic Response in Mixed-layer Aurivillius-type Oxides

Nanoscale structural modulation with different layer numbers in layer-structured complex oxides of the binary Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂-BiFeO₃ system can give rise to intriguing phenomena and extraordinary properties, originating from the correlated interfaces of two different phases with different strain states. In this work, we studied the nanoscale structural modulation induced by Co-substitution in the Aurivillius-type oxide of Bi₁₁Fe₃Ti₆O₃₃ with a unique and naturally occurred mixed-layer structure. Nanoscale structural evolution via doping occurred from the phase-modulated structure composed of 4- and 5-layer phases to a homogeneous 4-layer structure was clearly observed utilizing x-ray diffraction and electron micro-techniques. Significantly, magnetic response for the samples under various temperatures was recorded and larger magnetic coercive fields (e.g. H_c ∼ 10 kOe at 50 K) were found in the phase-modulated samples. Analyses of the x-ray absorption spectra and magnetic response confirmed that the low-temperature magnetic behaviour should be intrinsic to the phase-modulated structure inside the structural transformation region, mainly arising from structural distortions at the correlated interfaces.

Antiferromagnetic and xy ferro-orbital order in insulating SrRuO3 thin films with SrO termination

By means of first-principles calculations we study the structural, magnetic and electronic properties of SrRuO3 surface for the SrO termination. We find that the RuO6 octahedra and the structure of the SrO layers at the surface are strongly modified as well as the Ru-O-Ru bond angles. We find in the thin films a d xy ferro-orbital order. The d xy orbital becomes the lowest in energy as in other quasitwodimensional ruthenates. Such structural rearrangement, together with a band reduction, leads to a modification of the magnetic properties. We compare the Jahn-Teller effect between the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases. We show that an insulating G-type antiferromagnetic phase takes place in SrRuO3 thin films, substituting the metallic phase experimentally found in every bulk Sr-ruthenates. The single layer SrRuO3 presents many similarities with the Ca2RuO4 low temperature phase, these similarities disappear with a larger number of layers. A study of the ground state of the as function of the number of layers is presented, the competition between bandwidth and Coulomb repulsion determines the ground state. We propose the disorder as responsible for the exchange bias effect observed.

Design of a Mott Multiferroic from a Nonmagnetic Polar Metal

We examine the electronic properties of the newly discovered "ferroelectric metal" LiOsO3 combining density-functional and dynamical mean-field theories. We show that the material is close to a Mott transition and that electronic correlations can be tuned to engineer a Mott multiferroic state in the 1/1 superlattice of LiOsO3 and LiNbO3. We use electronic structure calculations to predict that the (LiOsO3)1/(LiNbO3)1 superlattice exhibits strong coupling between magnetic and ferroelectric degrees of freedom with a ferroelectric polarization of 41.2  μC cm(-2), Curie temperature of 927 K, and Néel temperature of 379 K. Our results support a route towards high-temperature multiferroics, i.e., driving nonmagnetic polar metals into correlated insulating magnetic states.

Electric field manipulation of magnetic and transport properties in SrRuO3/Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 heterostructure

The electric field manipulation of magnetic properties is currently of great interest for the opportunities provided in low-energy-consuming spintronics devices. Here, we report the effect of electric field on magnetic and transport properties of the ferromagnetic SrRuO(3) film which is epitaxially grown on Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))O3-PbTiO(3) ferroelectric substrate. With the application of electric field on the substrate, the magnetization, Curie temperature and resistivity of SrRuO(3) are effectively modified. The mechanism of the electric field manipulation of these properties is ascribed to the rotations of RuO6 oxygen octahedra caused by the electric-field-induced strain, which changes the overlap and hybridization between the Ru 4d orbitals and O 2p orbitals, resulting in the modification of the magnetic and electronic properties.

Correlating interfacial octahedral rotations with magnetism in (LaMnO3+δ)N/(SrTiO3)N superlattices

Lattice distortion due to oxygen octahedral rotations have a significant role in mediating the magnetism in oxides, and recently attracts a lot of interests in the study of complex oxides interface. However, the direct experimental evidence for the interrelation between octahedral rotation and magnetism at interface is scarce. Here we demonstrate that interfacial octahedral rotation are closely linked to the strongly modified ferromagnetism in (LaMnO3+δ)N/(SrTiO3)N superlattices. The maximized ferromagnetic moment in the N=6 superlattice is accompanied by a metastable structure (space group Imcm) featuring minimal octahedral rotations (a(-)a(-)c(-), α~4.2°, γ~0.5°). Quenched ferromagnetism for N<4 superlattices is correlated to a substantially enhanced c axis octahedral rotation (a(-)a(-)c(-), α~3.8°, γ~8° for N=2). Monte-Carlo simulation based on double-exchange model qualitatively reproduces the experimental observation, confirming the correlation between octahedral rotation and magnetism. Our study demonstrates that engineering superlattices with controllable interfacial structures can be a feasible new route in realizing functional magnetic materials.

Structural, magnetic and electrical properties of SrRuO3 films and SrRuO3/SrTiO3 superlattices

SrRuO3 films and SrRuO3/SrTiO3 superlattices grown on SrTiO3(001) were studied by structural, magnetic, magnetoresistance and Hall effect measurements. The superlattices showed heteroepitaxial growth with coherent interfaces and a Ru/Ti diffusion region of 1-1.5 unit cells. The resistivity had metallic character above a critical thickness of 3-4 unit cells, becoming insulating below. There was no hint of conduction processes along the interfaces. Both magnetization and magnetoresistance measurements showed an increase of the magnetic anisotropy, consistent with magnetostriction effects. The magnetostriction coefficient was estimated as λ100 ∼ 1.4 × 10(-4). Three unit cell thick SrRuO3 layers in SrRuO3/SrTiO3 superlattices were found to have tetragonal crystal symmetry, as deduced from the sign change of the anomalous Hall constant.