Magnetoresistance in the superconducting state at the (111) LaAlO3_3/SrTiO3_3 interface

Condensed matter systems that simultaneously exhibit superconductivity and ferromagnetism are rare due the antagonistic relationship between conventional spin-singlet superconductivity and ferromagnetic order. In materials in which superconductivity and magnetic order is known to coexist (such as some heavy-fermion materials), the superconductivity is thought to be of an unconventional nature. Recently, the conducting gas that lives at the interface between the perovskite band insulators LaAlO$_3$ (LAO) and SrTiO$_3$ (STO) has also been shown to host both superconductivity and magnetism. Most previous research has focused on LAO/STO samples in which the interface is in the (001) crystal plane. Relatively little work has focused on the (111) crystal orientation, which has hexagonal symmetry at the interface, and has been predicted to have potentially interesting topological properties, including unconventional superconducting pairing states. Here we report measurements of the magnetoresistance of (111) LAO/STO heterostructures at temperatures at which they are also superconducting. As with the (001) structures, the magnetoresistance is hysteretic, indicating the coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity, but in addition, we find that this magnetoresistance is anisotropic. Such an anisotropic response is completely unexpected in the superconducting state, and suggests that (111) LAO/STO heterostructures may support unconventional superconductivity.Comment: 6 Pages 4 figure

Anisotropic, multi-carrier transport at the (111) LaAlO3_3/SrTiO3_3 interface

The conducting gas that forms at the interface between LaAlO$_3$ and SrTiO$_3$ has proven to be a fertile playground for a wide variety of physical phenomena. The bulk of previous research has focused on the (001) and (110) crystal orientations. Here we report detailed measurements of the low-temperature electrical properties of (111) LAO/STO interface samples. We find that the low-temperature electrical transport properties are highly anisotropic, in that they differ significantly along two mutually orthogonal crystal orientations at the interface. While anisotropy in the resistivity has been reported in some (001) samples and in (110) samples, the anisotropy in the (111) samples reported here is much stronger, and also manifests itself in the Hall coefficient as well as the capacitance. In addition, the anisotropy is not present at room temperature and at liquid nitrogen temperatures, but only at liquid helium temperatures and below. The anisotropy is accentuated by exposure to ultraviolet light, which disproportionately affects transport along one surface crystal direction. Furthermore, analysis of the low-temperature Hall coefficient and the capacitance as a function of back gate voltage indicates that in addition to electrons, holes contribute to the electrical transport.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Superconductivity and Frozen Electronic States at the (111) LaAlO3_3/SrTiO3_3 Interface

In spite of Anderson's theorem, disorder is known to affect superconductivity in conventional s-wave superconductors. In most superconductors, the degree of disorder is fixed during sample preparation. Here we report measurements of the superconducting properties of the two-dimensional gas that forms at the interface between LaAlO$_3$ (LAO) and SrTiO$_3$ (STO) in the (111) crystal orientation, a system that permits \emph{in situ} tuning of carrier density and disorder by means of a back gate voltage $V_g$. Like the (001) oriented LAO/STO interface, superconductivity at the (111) LAO/STO interface can be tuned by $V_g$. In contrast to the (001) interface, superconductivity in these (111) samples is anisotropic, being different along different interface crystal directions, consistent with the strong anisotropy already observed other transport properties at the (111) LAO/STO interface. In addition, we find that the (111) interface samples "remember" the backgate voltage $V_F$ at which they are cooled at temperatures near the superconducting transition temperature $T_c$, even if $V_g$ is subsequently changed at lower temperatures. The low energy scale and other characteristics of this memory effect ($<1$ K) distinguish it from charge-trapping effects previously observed in (001) interface samples.Comment: 6 pages, 5 Figure