Structural relaxation and metal-insulator transition at the interface between SrTiO3 and LaAlO3

Abstract

The electronic structure of interfaces between LaAlO${}_3$ and SrTiO${}_3$ is studied using local spin density approximation (LSDA) with intra-atomic Coulomb repulsion (LSDA+U). We find that the nature of the interface metallic states is strongly affected by the type of the structure (sandwich or bilayer) and by the termination surface of LaAlO${}_3$. In all structures the atomic relaxation plays a crucial role in the electronic properties of the system. While in sandwiches the structural relaxation produces a significant polarization in SrTiO${}_3$ and Jahn-Teller like splitting of Ti $3d_{xy}$ orbitals, in AlO${}_2$-terminated bilayers the relaxation occurs primarily in LaAlO${}_3$ and results in an insulator-metal transition which has been observed experimentally with increasing thickness of the LaAlO${}_3$ layer.

10 pages, 16 figures

References in corpus (10)

• Magnetic effects at the interface between nonmagnetic oxides
• Why Some Interfaces Cannot be Sharp
• Electric Field Control of the LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ Interface Ground State
• Avoiding the polarization catastrophe in LaAlO3 overlayers on SrTiO3(001) through a polar distortion
• Profiling the interface electron gas of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures by hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• Lattice polarization effects on electron-gas charge densities in ionic superlattices
• Surface Effects on Oxide Heterostructures
• Exponential decay of relaxation effects at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterointerfaces
• Interface hole-doping in cuprate-titanate superlattices
• Electrostatic interface tuning in correlated superconducting heterostructures

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Coexistence of Magnetic Order and Two-dimensional Superconductivity at LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ Interfaces
• "Water-cycle" mechanism for writing and erasing nanostructures at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface
• Magnetism and superconductivity at LAO/STO-interfaces: the role of Ti 3d interface electrons
• Oxygen vacancies at titanate interfaces: two-dimensional magnetism and orbital reconstruction
• Emerging magnetism and electronic phase separation at titanate interfaces
• Termination control of electronic phases in oxide thin films and interfaces: LaAlO3/SrTiO3(001)
• Electronic charge redistribution in LaAlO${}_3$(001) thin films deposited at SrTiO${}_3$(001) substrate: First principles analysis and the role of stoichiometry
• Metal-insulator transition at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface revisited: A hybrid functional study
• Oxygen vacancies and hydrogen doping in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures: electronic properties and impact on surface and interface reconstruction
• Electronic properties of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 n-type interfaces: A GGA+U study
• The mechanism of spin-orbit coupling in a 2D oxide interface
• Hydrostatic pressure response of an oxide two-dimensional electron system
• Magnetically ordered state at correlated oxide interfaces: the role of random oxygen defects