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Register a new userTwo-band superconductivity in doped SrTiO$_{3}$ films and interfaces
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We investigate the possibility of multi-band superconductivity in SrTiO$_{3}$ films and interfaces using a two-dimensional two-band model. In the undoped compound, one of the bands is occupied whereas the other is empty. As the chemical potential shifts due to doping by negative charge carriers or application of an electric field, the second band becomes occupied, giving rise to a strong enhancement of the transition temperature and a sharp feature in the gap functions, which is manifested in the local density of states spectrum. By comparing our results with tunneling experiments in Nb-doped SrTiO$_{3}$, we find that intra-band pairing dominates over inter-band pairing, unlike other known multi-band superconductors. Given the similarities with the value of the transition temperature and with the band structure of LaAlO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$ heterostructures, we speculate that the superconductivity observed in SrTiO$_{3}$ interfaces may be similar in nature to that of bulk SrTiO$_{3}$, involving multiple bands with distinct electronic occupations.
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Nb-doped SrTiO$_{3}$ epitaxial thin films have been prepared on (001) SrTiO$_{3}$ substrates using pulsed laser deposition. A high substrate temperature ($>1000^{circ}{C}$) was found to be necessary to achieve 2-dimensional growth. Atomic force microscopy reveals atomically flat surfaces with 3.9 AA $ $ steps. The films show a metallic behavior, residual resistivity ratios between 10 and 100, and low residual resistivity of the order of 10$^{-4}$$Omega$cm. At 0.3 K, a sharp superconducting transition, reaching zero resistance, is observed.
SrTiO$_3$ is an incipient ferroelectric on the verge of a polar instability, which is avoided at low temperatures by quantum fluctuations. Within this unusual quantum paraelectric phase, superconductivity persists despite extremely dilute carrier densities. Ferroelectric fluctuations have been suspected to play a role in the origin of superconductivity by contributing to electron pairing. To investigate this possibility, we used optical second harmonic generation to measure the doping and temperature dependence of the ferroelectric order parameter in compressively strained SrTiO$_3$ thin films. At low temperatures, we uncover a spontaneous out-of-plane ferroelectric polarization with an onset that correlates perfectly with normal-state electrical resistivity anomalies. These anomalies have previously been associated with an enhancement of the superconducting critical temperature in doped SrTiO$_3$ films, directly linking the ferroelectric and superconducting phases. We develop a long-range mean-field Ising model of the ferroelectric phase transition to interpret the data and extract the relevant energy scales in the system. Our results support a long-suspected connection between ferroelectricity and superconductivity in SrTiO$_3$, but call into question the role played by ferroelectric fluctuations.
In multiorbital materials, superconductivity can exhibit new exotic forms that include several coupled condensates. In this context, quantum confinement in two-dimensional superconducting oxide interfaces offers new degrees of freedom to engineer the band structure and selectively control 3d-orbitals occupancy by electrostatic doping. However, the presence of multiple superconducting condensates in these systems has not yet been demonstrated. Here, we use resonant microwave transport to extract the superfluid stiffness of the (110)-oriented LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface in the entire phase diagram. We evidence a transition from single-band to two-band superconductivity driven by electrostatic doping, which we relate to the filling of the different 3d-orbitals based on numerical simulations of the quantum well. Interestingly, the superconducting transition temperature decreases while the second band is populated, which challenges the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory. To explain this behaviour, we propose that the superconducting order parameters associated with the two bands have opposite signs with respect to each other.
The time-resolved photoconductance of amorphous and crystalline LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interfaces, both hosting an interfacial 2-dimensional electron gas, is investigated under irradiation by variable-wavelengths, visible or ultraviolet photons. Unlike bare SrTiO$_3$ single crystals, showing relatively small photoconductance effects, both kinds of interfaces exhibit an intense and highly persistent photoconductance with extraordinarily long characteristic times. The temporal behaviour of the extra photoinduced conductance persisting after light irradiation shows a complex dependence on interface type (whether amorphous or crystalline), sample history and irradiation wavelength. textcolor{black}{The experimental results indicate that different mechanisms of photoexcitation are responsible for the photoconductance of crystalline and amorphous LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interfaces under visible light. We propose that the response of crystalline samples is mainly due to the promotion of electrons from the valence bands of both SrTiO$_3$ and LaAlO$_3$. This second channel is less relevant in amorphous LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$, where the higher density of point defects plays instead a major role.
The interface superconductivity in LaAlO$_{3}$-SrTiO$_{3}$ heterostructures reveals a non-monotonic behavior of the critical temperature as a function of the two-dimensional density of charge carriers. We develop a theoretical description of interface superconductivity in strongly polar heterostructures, based on the dielectric function formalism. The density dependence of the critical temperature is calculated accounting for all phonon branches including different types of optical (interface and half-space) and acoustic phonons. The LO- and acoustic-phonon-mediated electron-electron interaction is shown to be the dominating mechanism governing the superconducting phase transition in the heterostructure.
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