Phase Instability amid Dimensional Crossover in Artificial Oxide Crystal

Abstract

Artificial crystals synthesized by atomic-scale epitaxy provides the ability to control the dimensions of the quantum phases and associated phase transitions via precise thickness modulation. In particular, reduction in dimensionality via quantized control of atomic layers is a powerful approach to revealing hidden electronic and magnetic phases. Here, we demonstrate a dimensionality-controlled and induced metal-insulator transition (MIT) in atomically designed superlattices by synthesizing a genuine two dimensional (2D) SrRuO3 crystal with highly suppressed charge transfer. The tendency to ferromagnetically align the spins in SrRuO3 layer diminishes in 2D as the interlayer exchange interaction vanishes, accompanying the 2D localization of electrons. Furthermore, electronic and magnetic instabilities in the two SrRuO3 unit cell layers induce a thermally-driven MIT along with a metamagnetic transition.

31 pages, 3 figures, 13 supplementary figures

References in corpus (6)

• Band alignment and charge transfer in complex oxide interfaces
• Subband filling and Mott transition in Ca_{2-x}Sr_xRuO_4
• Resonant tunneling in a quantum oxide superlattice
• Thermopower analysis of metal-insulator transition temperature modulations in vanadium dioxide thin films with lattice distortion
• Tailoring the electronic properties of SrRuO3 films in SrRuO3/LaAlO3 superlattices
• Orbital-selective confinement effect of Ru $4d$ orbitals in SrRuO${}_3$ ultrathin film

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Propagation control of octahedral tilt in SrRuO3 via artificial heterostructuring