Strain induced metal-insulator transition in ultrathin films of SrRuO${}_3$

Abstract

The ultrathin film limit has been shown to be a rich playground for unusual low dimensional physics. Taking the example of SrRuO${}_3$ which is ferromagnetic and metallic at the bulk limit, one finds that it becomes antiferromagnetic and insulating at the three monolayers limit when grown on SrTiO${}_3$. The origin of the insulating state is traced to strongly orbital dependent exchange splittings. A modest compressive strain of 1% of the SrTiO${}_3$ substrate is then found to drive the system into a highly confined two-dimensional 100% spin polarized metallic state. This metal-insulator transition driven by a modest strain could be useful in two state device applications.

Accept in Phys. Rev. B

References in corpus (4)

• Electric field control of exchange bias in multiferroic epitaxial heterostructures
• Engineering multiferroism in CaMnO${}_3$
• Structural, electronic and magnetic properties of SrRuO${}_3$ under epitaxial strain
• Strain-induced insulator state in La_0.7Sr_0.3CoO_3

Cited by in corpus (4)

• A route to room temperature ferromagnetic ultrathin SrRuO${}_3$ films
• Materials challenges for SrRuO3: from conventional to quantum electronics
• The origin of insulating and non-ferromagnetic SrRuO3 monolayers
• Abrupt orthorhombic relaxation in compressively strained ultra-thin SrRuO3 films