Variation in superconducting transition temperature due to tetragonal domains in two-dimensionally doped SrTiO3

Noad, Hilary; Spanton, Eric M.; Nowack, Katja C.; Inoue, Hisashi; Kim, Minu; Merz, Tyler A.; Bell, Christopher; Hikita, Yasuyuki; Xu, Ruqing; Liu, Wenjun; Vailionis, Arturas; Hwang, Harold Y.; Moler, Kathryn A.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.94.174516

Variation in superconducting transition temperature due to tetragonal domains in two-dimensionally doped ${SrTiO}_{3}$

Journal Article · Mon Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Physical Review B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.174516· OSTI ID:1328993

Noad, Hilary ^[1]; Spanton, Eric M. ^[1]; Nowack, Katja C. ^[2]; Inoue, Hisashi ^[2]; Kim, Minu ^[3]; Merz, Tyler A. ^[1]; Bell, Christopher ^[4]; Hikita, Yasuyuki ^[3]; Xu, Ruqing ^[5]; Liu, Wenjun ^[5]; Vailionis, Arturas ^[2]; Hwang, Harold Y. ^[1]; Moler, Kathryn A. ^[1]

SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Univ. of Bristol, Bristol (United Kingdom)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Strontium titanate is a low-temperature, non–Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superconductor that superconducts to carrier concentrations lower than in any other system and exhibits avoided ferroelectricity at low temperatures. Neither the mechanism of superconductivity in strontium titanate nor the importance of the structure and dielectric properties for the superconductivity are well understood. We studied the effects of twin structure on superconductivity in a 5.5-nm-thick layer of niobium-doped SrTiO₃ embedded in undoped SrTiO₃. We used a scanning superconducting quantum interference device susceptometer to image the local diamagnetic response of the sample as a function of temperature. We observed regions that exhibited a superconducting transition temperature T_c ≳ 10% higher than the temperature at which the sample was fully superconducting. The pattern of these regions varied spatially in a manner characteristic of structural twin domains. Some regions are too wide to originate on twin boundaries; therefore, we propose that the orientation of the tetragonal unit cell with respect to the doped plane affects T_c. Finally, our results suggest that the anisotropic dielectric properties of SrTiO₃ are important for its superconductivity and need to be considered in any theory of the mechanism of the superconductivity.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; AC02-76SF00515

OSTI ID:: 1328993

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1333608
OSTI ID: 1342111

Report Number(s):: SLAC-PUB--16840

Journal Information:: Physical Review B, Journal Name: Physical Review B Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 94; ISSN 2469-9950; ISSN PRBMDO

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Physics of SrTiO$_3$-based heterostructures and nanostructures: a review Pai, Yun-Yi; Tylan-Tyler, Anthony; Irvin, Patrick arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1702.07690	text	January 2017

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