No Arabic abstract
Epitaxial growth of atomically-sharp interfaces serves as one of the main building blocks of nanofabrication. Such interfaces are crucial for the operation of various devices including transistors, photo-voltaic cells, and memory components. In order to avoid charge traps that may hamper the operation of such devices, it is critical for the layers to be atomically-sharp. Fabrication of atomically sharp interfaces normally requires ultra-high vacuum techniques and high substrate temperatures. We present here a new self-limiting wet chemical process for deposition of epitaxial layers from alkoxide precursors. This method is fast, cheap, and yields perfect interfaces as we validate by various analysis techniques. It allows the design of heterostructures with half-unit cell resolution. We demonstrate our method by designing hole-type oxide interfaces SrTiO3/BaO/LaAlO3. We show that transport through this interface exhibits properties of mixed electron-hole contributions with hole mobility exceeding that of electrons. Our method and results are an important step forward towards a controllable design of a p-type oxide interface.
Geometric phases in condensed matter play a central role in topological transport phenomena such as the quantum, spin and anomalous Hall effect (AHE). In contrast to the quantum Hall effect - which is characterized by a topological invariant and robust against perturbations - the AHE depends on the Berry curvature of occupied bands at the Fermi level and is therefore highly sensitive to subtle changes in the band structure. A unique platform for its manipulation is provided by transition metal oxide heterostructures, where engineering of emergent electrodynamics becomes possible at atomically sharp interfaces. We demonstrate that the Berry curvature and its corresponding vector potential can be manipulated by interface engineering of the correlated itinerant ferromagnet SrRuO$_3$ (SRO). Measurements of the AHE reveal the presence of two interface-tunable spin-polarized conduction channels. Using theoretical calculations, we show that the tunability of the AHE at SRO interfaces arises from the competition between two topologically non-trivial bands. Our results demonstrate how reconstructions at oxide interfaces can be used to control emergent electrodynamics on a nanometer-scale, opening new routes towards spintronics and topological electronics.
Complex oxide systems have attracted considerable attention because of their fascinating properties, including the magnetic ordering at the conducting interface between two band insulators, such as LaAlO3 (LAO) and SrTiO3 (STO). However, the manipulation of the spin degree of freedom at the LAO/STO heterointerface has remained elusive. Here, we have fabricated hybrid magnetic tunnel junctions consisting of Co and LAO/STO ferromagnets with the insertion of a Ti layer in between, which clearly exhibit magnetic switching and the tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) effect below 10 K. The magnitude and the of the TMR are strongly dependent on the direction of the rotational magnetic field parallel to the LAO/STO plane, which is attributed to a strong Rashba-type spin orbit coupling in the LAO/STO heterostructure. Our study provides a further support for the existence of the macroscopic ferromagnetism at LAO/STO heterointerfaces and opens a novel route to realize interfacial spintronics devices.
Complex oxide interfaces have been one of the central focuses in condensed matter physics and material science. Over the past decade, aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and spectroscopy has proven to be invaluable to visualize and understand the emerging quantum phenomena at an interface. In this paper, we briefly review some recent progress in the utilization of electron microscopy to probe interfaces. Specifically, we discuss several important challenges for electron microscopy to advance our understanding on interface phenomena, from the perspective of variable temperature, magnetism, electron energy loss spectroscopy analysis, electronic symmetry, and defects probing.
Diluted oxide interface of LaAl1-xMnxO/SrTiO3 (LAMO/STO) provides a new way of tuning the ground states of the interface between the two band insulators of LAO and STO from metallic/superconducting to highly insulating. Increasing the Mn doping level (x) leads to a delicate control of the carrier density as well as a raise in the electron mobility and spin polarization. Herein, we demonstrate a tunable Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and spin polarization of LAMO/STO (0.2 <= x <= 0.3) by applying a back gate. The presence of SOC causes the splitting of energy band into two branches by a spin splitting energy. The maximum spin splitting energy depends on the Mn doping and decreases with the increasing Mn content and then vanishes at x = 0.3. The carrier density dependence of the spin splitting energy for different compositions shows a dome-shaped behavior with a maximum at different normalized carrier density. These findings have not yet been observed in LAO/STO interfaces. A fully back-gate-tunable spin-polarized 2DEL is observed at the interface with x = 0.3 where only dxy orbits are populated (5.3E12 cm-2 <= ns <= 1.0E13 cm-2). The present results shed light on unexplored territory in SOC at STO-base oxide heterostructures and make LAMO/STO an intriguing platform for spin-related phenomena in 3d-electron systems.
A 2D electron gas system in an oxide heterostructure serves as an important playground for novel phenomena. Here, we show that, by using fractional delta-doping to control the interfaces composition in LaxSr1-xTiO3/SrTiO3 artificial oxide superlattices, the filling-controlled 2D insulator-metal transition can be realized. The atomic-scale control of d-electron band filling, which in turn contributes to the tuning of effective mass and density of the charge carriers, is found to be a fascinating route to substantially enhanced carrier mobilities.