Airy-function electron localization in the oxide superlattices

Oxide superlattices and microstructures hold the promise for creating a new class of devices with unprecedented functionalities. Density-functional studies of the recently fabricated superlattices of lattice-matched perovskite titanates (SrTiO3)n/(LaTiO3)m reveal a classic wedge-shaped potential originating from the Coulomb potential of a charged sheet of La atoms. The potential in turn confines the electrons in the vicinity of the sheet, leading to an Airy-function localization of the electron states. Magnetism is suppressed for structures with a single LaTiO3 monolayer, while the bulk antiferromagnetism is recovered in the structures with a thicker LaTiO3, with a narrow transition region separating the magnetic LaTiO3 and the non-magnetic SrTiO3

Ferrodistorsive orbital ordering in the layered nickelate NaNiO_2: A density-functional study

The electronic structure and magnetism in the sodium nickelate NaNiO_2 in the low-temperature phase is studied from density-functional calculations using the linear muffin-tin orbitals method. An antiferromagnetic solution with a magnetic moment of 0.7 m_B per Ni ion is found. A ferrodistorsive orbital ordering is shown to occur due to the Jahn-Teller distortion around the Ni^{3+} ion in agreement with the orbital ordering inferred from neutron diffraction. While the intralayer exchange is ferromagnetic, the interlayer exchange is weakly antiferromagnetic, mediated by a long Ni-O-Na-O-Ni superexchange path.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures Submitted to MMM2004 conference Proceeding

On the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction in graphene

The two dimensionality plus the linear band structure of graphene leads to new behavior of the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction, which is the interaction between two magnetic moments mediated by the electrons of the host crystal. We study this interaction from linear response theory. There are two equivalent methods both of which may be used for the calculation of the susceptibility, one involving the integral over a product of two Green's functions and the second that involves the excitations between occupied and unoccupied states, which was followed in the original work of Ruderman and Kittel. Unlike the $J \propto (2k_FR)^{-2} \sin (2k_FR)$ behavior of an ordinary two-dimensional (2D) metal, $J$ in graphene falls off as $1/R^3$, shows the $1 + \cos ((\bm{K}-\bm{K'}).\bm{R})$-type of behavior, which contains an interference term between the two Dirac cones, and it oscillates for certain directions and not for others. Quite interestingly, irrespective of any oscillations, the RKKY interaction in graphene is always ferromagnetic for moments located on the same sublattice and antiferromagnetic for moments on the opposite sublattices, a result that follows from particle-hole symmetry.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, submitted to AIP Conference Proceeding

Two Dimensional Spin-Polarized Electron Gas at the Oxide Interfaces

The formation of a novel spin-polarized 2D electron gas at the LaMnO$_3$ monolayer embedded in SrMnO$_3$ is predicted from the first-principles density-functional calculations. The La (d) electrons become confined in the direction normal to the interface in the potential well of the La layer, serving as a positively-charged layer of electron donors. These electrons mediate a ferromagnetic alignment of the Mn t$_{2g}$ spins near the interface via the Anderson-Hasegawa double exchange and become, in turn, spin-polarized due to the internal magnetic fields of the Mn moments.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure