Enhanced persistent photoconductivity in $delta$-doped LaAlO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$ heterostructures

We report the effect of $delta$-doping at LaAlO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$ interface with LaMnO$_{3}$ monolayers on the photoconducting (PC) state. The PC is realized by exposing the samples to broad band optical radiation of a quartz lamp and 325 and 441 nm lines of a He-Cd laser. Along with the significant modification in electrical transport which drives the pure LaAlO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$ interface from metal-to-insulator with increasing LaMnO$_{3}$ sub-monolayer thickness, we also observe an enhancement in the photo-response and relaxation time constant. Possible scenario for the PC based on defect-clusters, random potential fluctuations and large lattice relaxation models have been discussed. For pure LaAlO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$, the photoconductivity appears to originate from inter-band transitions between Ti-derived $3d$ bands which are $e_{g}$ in character and O 2p - Ti $t_{2g}$ hybridized bands. The band structure changes significantly when fractional layers of LaMnO$_{3}$ are introduced. Here the Mn $e_{g}$ bands ($approx1.5$ eV above the Fermi energy) within the photo-conducting gap lead to a reduction in the photo-excitation energy and a gain in overall photoconductivity.

delta-doped LaAlO3-SrTiO3 interface: Electrical transport and characterization of the interface potential

Here we investigate LaAlO_3-SrTiO_3 heterostructure withdelta-doping of the interface by LaMnO_3 at less than one monolayer. This doping strongly inhibits the formation of mobile electron layer at the interface. This results in giant increase of the resistance and the thermopower of the heterostructure. Several aspects of this phenomena are investigated. A model to calculate the carrier concentration is presented and effect of doping and detailed temperature dependence is analyzed in terms of model parameters and the weak-scattering theory. The large enhancement of thermopower is attributed to the increased spin and orbital entropy originating from the LaMnO_3 mono-layer.

Novel photo-conducting state and its perturbation by electrostatic fields in oxide-based two-dimensional electron gas

The two-carrier transport model as proposed for the two-dimensional electron gas formed at the interfaces of oxide heterostructures is investigated by means of a combined perturbation of near ultra-violet radiation and electrostatic field, applied both separately and simultaneously. Comparison of the photo-response of the prototype systems such as the band insulator LaAlO3 and Mott insulator LaTiO3 films on TiO2 terminated SrTiO3 show remarkably similarities. Two types of non-equilibrium carriers are generated in each system, having a signature of a particular type of perturbation characterized by distinctly different relaxation process. While, the photo-conducting state diminishes in a stretched exponential manner, with a temperature dependent activation energy varying from few tens of meV to ~ 1 to 2 meV on lowering the temperature, and a relaxation time of several hours, the recovery from electrostatic gating occurs in milli-seconds time scale. An attempt is also made to explain the experimental observations using the ab-initio density functional calculations. The calculations show that the electronic transitions associated with near ultra-violet radiation emerge from bands located at ~ 2 eV above and below the Fermi energy, which are the Ti 3d states of the SrTiO3 substrate, and that from the AlO2 (TiO2) layers of the LaAlO3 (LaTiO3) films, respectively. The slow decay of the photo-current to the unperturbed state is explained in terms of the closely spaced Ti 3dxy states in the lower conduction band, which are manifested as flat bands (or localized states) in the band structure. Such localization leads to increased carrier life-times, through the energy-time relationship of the uncertainty principle.