No Arabic abstract
The nature of magnetic order and transport properties near surfaces is a topic of great current interest. Here we model metal-insulator interfaces with a multi-layer system governed by a tight-binding Hamiltonian in which the interaction is non-zero on one set of adjacent planes and zero on another. As the interface hybridization is tuned, magnetic and metallic properties undergo an evolution that reflects the competition between anti-ferromagnetism and (Kondo) singlet formation in a scenario similar to that occurring in heavy-fermion materials. For a few-layer system at intermediate hybridization, a Kondo insulating phase results where magnetic order and conductivity are suppressed in all layers. As more insulating layers are added, magnetic order is restored in all correlated layers except that at the interface. Residual signs of Kondo physics are however evident in the bulk as a substantial reduction of the order parameter in the 2-3 layers immediately adjacent to the interfacial one. We find no signature of long range magnetic order in the metallic
The observation of magnetic interaction at the interface between nonmagnetic oxides has attracted much attention in recent years. In this report, we show that the Kondo-like scattering at the SrTiO3-based conducting interface is enhanced by increasing the lattice mismatch and growth oxygen pressure PO2. For the 26-unit-cell LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) interface with lattice mismatch being 3.0%, the Kondo-like scattering is observed when PO2 is beyond 1 mTorr. By contrast, when the lattice mismatch is reduced to 1.0% at the (La0.3Sr0.7)(Al0.65Ta0.35)O3/SrTiO3 (LSAT/STO) interface, the metallic state is always preserved up to PO2 of 100 mTorr. The data from Hall measurement and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy reveal that the larger amount of localized Ti3+ ions are formed at the LAO/STO interface compared to LSAT/STO. Those localized Ti3+ ions with unpaired electrons can be spin-polarized to scatter mobile electrons, responsible for the Kondo-like scattering observed at the LAO/STO interface.
We show that oxygen vacancies at titanate interfaces induce a complex multiorbital reconstruction which involves a lowering of the local symmetry and an inversion of t2g and eg orbitals resulting in the occupation of the eg orbitals of Ti atoms neighboring the O vacancy. The orbital reconstruction depends strongly on the clustering of O vacancies and can be accompanied by a magnetic splitting between the local eg orbitals with lobes directed towards the vacancy and interface dxy orbitals. The reconstruction generates a two-dimensional interface magnetic state not observed in bulk SrTiO3. Using generalized gradient approximation (LSDA) with intra-atomic Coulomb repulsion (GGA+U), we find that this magnetic state is common for titanate surfaces and interfaces.
At interfaces between conventional materials, band bending and alignment are classically controlled by differences in electrochemical potential. Applying this concept to oxides in which interfaces can be polar and cations may adopt a mixed valence has led to the discovery of novel two-dimensional states between simple band insulators such as LaAlO3 and SrTiO3. However, many oxides have a more complex electronic structure, with charge, orbital and/or spin orders arising from correlations between transition metal and oxygen ions. Strong correlations thus offer a rich playground to engineer functional interfaces but their compatibility with the classical band alignment picture remains an open question. Here we show that beyond differences in electron affinities and polar effects, a key parameter determining charge transfer at correlated oxide interfaces is the energy required to alter the covalence of the metaloxygen bond. Using the perovskite nickelate (RNiO3) family as a template, we probe charge reconstruction at interfaces with gadolinium titanate GdTiO3. X-ray absorption spectroscopy shows that the charge transfer is thwarted by hybridization effects tuned by the rare-earth (R) size. Charge transfer results in an induced ferromagnetic-like state in the nickelate, exemplifying the potential of correlated interfaces to design novel phases. Further, our work clarifies strategies to engineer two-dimensional systems through the control of both doping and covalence.
The frustrated magnetism on the Kondo lattice system motivates intriguing Kondo-breakdown beyond the traditional Doniach scenario. Among them, the fractionalized Fermi liquid (FL*) has drawn a particular interest by virtue of its fractionalized nature. Here, we study the phase diagram of $J_{1}$-$J_{2}$ Kondo-Heisenberg model on a honeycomb lattice at a quarter filling. Employing the slave-fermion mean-field theory with $d pm id$ spin liquid ansatz and exact diagonalization, we discuss the emergence of partial Kondo screening in the frustrated regime with comparable $J_{1}$ and $J_{2}$, and the fractionalized superconductor (SC*) which is superconductor analogy of the FL*. Due to the larger number of local spin moments than itinerant electrons, the magnetic fluctuation is still significant even in the strong-coupling limit, which influences the thermodynamic and transport properties qualitatively. In particular, we estimate the thermal conductance to probe the low-energy excitation and show the anomalous behaviour in the SC* phase contrast to the conventional superconductors.
We introduce and study a simplification of the symmetric single-impurity Kondo model. In the Ising-Kondo model, host electrons scatter off a single magnetic impurity at the origin whose spin orientation is dynamically conserved. This reduces the problem to potential scattering of spinless fermions that can be solved exactly using the equation-of-motion technique. The Ising-Kondo model provides an example for static screening. At low temperatures, the thermodynamics at finite magnetic fields resembles that of a free spin-1/2 in a reduced external field. Alternatively, the Curie law can be interpreted in terms of an antiferromagnetically screened effective spin. The spin correlations decay algebraically to zero in the ground state and display commensurate Friedel oscillations. In contrast to the symmetric Kondo model, the impurity spin is not completely screened, i.e., the screening cloud contains less than a spin-1/2 electron. At finite temperatures and weak interactions, the spin correlations decay to zero exponentially with correlation length $xi(T)=1/(2pi T)$.