Control of hidden ground-state order in NdNiO${}_3$ superlattices

Abstract

The combination of charge and spin degrees of freedom with electronic correlations in condensed matter systems leads to a rich array of phenomena, such as magnetism, superconductivity, and novel conduction mechanisms. While such phenomena are observed in bulk materials, a richer array of behaviors becomes possible when these degrees of freedom are controlled in atomically layered heterostructures, where one can constrain dimensionality and impose interfacial boundary conditions. Here, we unlock a host of unique, hidden electronic and magnetic phase transitions in NdNiO${}_3$ while approaching the two-dimensional (2D) limit, resulting from the differing influences of dimensional confinement and interfacial coupling. Most notably, we discover a new phase in fully 2D, single layer NdNiO${}_3$, in which all signatures of the bulk magnetic and charge ordering are found to vanish. In addition, for quasi two-dimensional layers down to a thickness of two unit cells, bulk-type ordering persists but separates from the onset of insulating behavior in a manner distinct from that found in the bulk or thin film nickelates. Using resonant x-ray spectroscopies, first-principles theory, and model calculations, we propose that the single layer phase suppression results from a new mechanism of interfacial electronic reconstruction based on ionicity differences across the interface, while the phase separation in multi-layer NdNiO${}_3$ emerges due to enhanced 2D fluctuations. These findings provide insights into the intertwined mechanisms of charge and spin ordering in strongly correlated systems in reduced dimensions and illustrate the ability to use atomic layering to access hidden phases.

arXiv comment30 pages, 13 figures

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• Aspects of the Synthesis of Thin Film Superconducting Infinite-Layer Nickelates
• Database, Features, and Machine Learning Model to Identify Thermally Driven Metal-Insulator Transition Compounds
• Disentangling lattice and electronic contributions to the metal-insulator transition from bulk vs. layer confined RNiO${}_3$
• Antiferromagnetism in Ni-Based Superconductors
• Soft X-ray Spectroscopy of Low-Valence Nickelates
• Epitaxial strain modulated electronic properties of interface controlled nickelate superlattice
• Optical properties of LaNiO3 films tuned from compressive to tensile strain
• Effects of reduced dimensionality, crystal field, electron-lattice coupling, and strain on the ground-state of a rare-earth nickelates monolayer
• Elastic stripes formation at electronic transitions