4,906 research outputs found
Emergent nanoscale superparamagnetism at oxide interfaces
Atomically sharp oxide heterostructures exhibit a range of novel physical
phenomena that do not occur in the parent bulk compounds. The most prominent
example is the appearance of highly conducting and superconducting states at
the interface between the band insulators LaAlO3 and SrTiO3. Here we report a
new emergent phenomenon at the LaMnO3/SrTiO3 interface in which an
antiferromagnetic insulator abruptly transforms into a magnetic state that
exhibits unexpected nanoscale superparamagnetic dynamics. Upon increasing the
thickness of LaMnO3 above five unit cells, our scanning nanoSQUID-on-tip
microscopy shows spontaneous formation of isolated magnetic islands of 10 to 50
nm diameter, which display random moment reversals by thermal activation or in
response to an in-plane magnetic field. Our charge reconstruction model of the
polar LaMnO3/SrTiO3 heterostructure describes the sharp emergence of
thermodynamic phase separation leading to nucleation of metallic ferromagnetic
islands in an insulating antiferromagnetic matrix. The model further suggests
that the nearby superparamagnetic-ferromagnetic transition can be gate tuned,
holding potential for applications in magnetic storage and spintronics
Giant Oscillating Thermopower at Oxide Interfaces
Understanding the nature of charge carriers at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface is
one of the major open issues in the full comprehension of the charge
confinement phenomenon in oxide heterostructures. Here, we investigate
thermopower to study the electronic structure in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 at low
temperature as a function of gate field. In particular, under large negative
gate voltage, corresponding to the strongly depleted charge density regime,
thermopower displays record-high negative values of the order of 10^4 - 10^5
microV/K, oscillating at regular intervals as a function of the gate voltage.
The huge thermopower magnitude can be attributed to the phonon-drag
contribution, while the oscillations map the progressive depletion and the
Fermi level descent across a dense array of localized states lying at the
bottom of the Ti 3d conduction band. This study is the first direct evidence of
a localized Anderson tail in the two-dimensional (2D) electron liquid at the
LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface.Comment: Main text: 28 pages and 3 figures; Supplementary information: 29
pages, 5 figures and 1 tabl
Nanoscale Electrostatic Control of Oxide Interfaces
We develop a robust and versatile platform to define nanostructures at oxide
interfaces via patterned top gates. Using LaAlO/SrTiO as a model
system, we demonstrate controllable electrostatic confinement of electrons to
nanoscale regions in the conducting interface. The excellent gate response,
ultra-low leakage currents, and long term stability of these gates allow us to
perform a variety of studies in different device geometries from room
temperature down to 50 mK. Using a split-gate device we demonstrate the
formation of a narrow conducting channel whose width can be controllably
reduced via the application of appropriate gate voltages. We also show that a
single narrow gate can be used to induce locally a superconducting to
insulating transition. Furthermore, in the superconducting regime we see
indications of a gate-voltage controlled Josephson effect.Comment: Version after peer review; includes additional data on
superconductivit
Diluted Oxide Interfaces with Tunable Ground States
The metallic interface between two oxide insulators, such as LaAlO3/SrTiO3
(LAO/STO), provides new opportunities for electronics and spintronics. However,
due to the presence of multiple orbital populations, tailoring the interfacial
properties such as the ground state and metal-insulator transitions remains
challenging. Here, we report an unforeseen tunability of the phase diagram of
LAO/STO by alloying LAO with a ferromagnetic LaMnO3 insulator without forming
lattice disorder and at the same time without changing the polarity of the
system. By increasing the Mn-doping level, x, of LaAl1-xMnxO3/STO, the
interface undergoes a Lifshitz transition at x = 0.225 across a critical
carrier density of nc= 2.8E13 cm-2, where a peak TSC =255 mK of superconducting
transition temperature is observed. Moreover, the LaAl1-xMnxO3 turns
ferromagnetic at x >=0.25. Remarkably, at x = 0.3, where the metallic interface
is populated by only dxy electrons and just before it becomes insulating, we
achieve reproducibly a same device with both signatures of superconductivity
and clear anomalous Hall effect. This provides a unique and effective way to
tailor oxide interfaces for designing on-demand electronic and spintronic
devices.Comment: 18 pages and 6 figure
New source of random telegraph signal in CMOS image sensors
We report a new source of dark current random telegraph signal in CMOS image sensors due to meta-stable Shockley-Read-Hall generation mechanism at oxide interfaces. The role of oxide defects is discriminated thanks to the use of ionizing radiations
Tunable Rashba spin-orbit interaction at oxide interfaces
The quasi-two-dimensional electron gas found at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface
offers exciting new functionalities, such as tunable superconductivity, and has
been proposed as a new nanoelectronics fabrication platform. Here we lay out a
new example of an electronic property arising from the interfacial breaking of
inversion symmetry, namely a large Rashba spin-orbit interaction, whose
magnitude can be modulated by the application of an external electric field. By
means of magnetotransport experiments we explore the evolution of the
spin-orbit coupling across the phase diagram of the system. We uncover a steep
rise in Rashba interaction occurring around the doping level where a quantum
critical point separates the insulating and superconducting ground states of
the system
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