skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Interface-induced multiferroism by design in complex oxide superlattices

Journal Article · · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [5];  [5];  [1];  [4];  [6];  [1];  [1]
  1. Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States)
  2. Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  3. Southeast Univ., Nanjing (China)
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  6. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Interfaces between materials present unique opportunities for the discovery of intriguing quantum phenomena. Here we explore the possibility that, in the case of superlattices, if one of the layers is made ultrathin, unexpected properties can be induced between the two bracketing interfaces. We pursue this objective by combining advanced growth and characterization techniques with theoretical calculations. Using prototype La2/3Sr1/3MnO3/BaTiO3 (LSMO/BTO) superlattices, we observe a structural evolution in the LSMO layers as a function of thickness. Atomic-resolution electron microscopy and spectroscopy reveal an unusual polar structure phase in ultrathin LSMO at a critical thickness due to interfacing with the adjacent BTO layers, which is confirmed by first-principles calculations. Most important is the fact that this polar phase is accompanied by re-emergent ferromagnetism, making this system a potential candidate for ultrathin ferroelectrics with ferromagnetic ordering. Monte-Carlo simulations illustrate the important role of spin-lattice coupling in LSMO. The present results open up a conceptually intriguing recipe for developing novel functional ultrathin materials via interface-induced spin-lattice coupling.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704; AC05-00OR22725; FG02-09ER46554
OSTI ID:
1389234
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1376517; OSTI ID: 1597823
Report Number(s):
BNL-114200-2017-JA; R&D Project: MA015MACA; KC0201010
Journal Information:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 114, Issue 26; ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 45 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (85)

Origin of the metal-insulator transition in ultrathin films of L a 2 / 3 S r 2 / 3 Mn O 3 journal September 2015
Growth diagram of La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 thin films using pulsed laser deposition journal June 2013
Microscopic model for the ferroelectric field effect in oxide heterostructures journal October 2011
Lattice dynamics of BaTiO 3 , PbTiO 3 , and PbZrO 3 : A comparative first-principles study journal July 1999
Oxide Interfaces--An Opportunity for Electronics journal March 2010
Competition and cooperation between antiferrodistortive and ferroelectric instabilities in the model perovskite SrTiO 3 journal March 2014
Interplay of Octahedral Tilts and Polar Order in BiFeO 3 Films journal March 2013
Probing Nanoscale Ferroelectricity by Ultraviolet Raman Spectroscopy journal September 2006
Tolerance Factor and Cation-Anion Orbital Interactions Differentiating the Polar and Antiferrodistortive Structures of Perovskite Oxides AB O 3 : The Polar and Antiferrodistortive Structures of Perovskite Oxides journal April 2015
Multiferroic materials and magnetoelectric physics: symmetry, entanglement, excitation, and topology journal November 2015
From ultrasoft pseudopotentials to the projector augmented-wave method journal January 1999
Critical thickness and orbital ordering in ultrathin La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 films journal September 2008
Electric modulation of magnetization at the BaTiO 3 /La 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 interfaces journal June 2012
Evolution of dislocation arrays in epitaxial BaTiO3 thin films grown on (100) SrTiO3 journal April 2004
Controlled lateral anisotropy in correlated manganite heterostructures by interface-engineered oxygen octahedral coupling journal March 2016
Magnetoelectric Effects in Complex Oxides with Competing Ground States journal September 2009
Competing Structural Instabilities in Cubic Perovskites journal March 1995
First-principles calculations of the electronic structure and spectra of strongly correlated systems: the LDA + U method journal January 1997
Direct observation of ferroelectric field effect and vacancy-controlled screening at the BiFeO3/LaxSr1−xMnO3 interface journal August 2014
Strain Doping: Reversible Single-Axis Control of a Complex Oxide Lattice via Helium Implantation journal June 2015
Structural evidence for enhanced polarization in a commensurate short-period BaTiO3∕SrTiO3 superlattice journal August 2006
Colloquium : Emergent properties in plane view: Strong correlations at oxide interfaces journal October 2014
Ultrathin limit and dead-layer effects in local polarization switching of BiFeO 3 journal January 2012
Thickness-Dependent Polarization of Strained BiFeO 3 Films with Constant Tetragonality journal December 2012
Atomic-resolution imaging of oxidation states in manganites journal February 2009
Orbital Reconstruction and Covalent Bonding at an Oxide Interface journal November 2007
Ultrathin oxide films and interfaces for electronics and spintronics journal February 2011
Control of octahedral connectivity in perovskite oxide heterostructures: An emerging route to multifunctional materials discovery journal March 2012
Reversible Modulation of Orbital Occupations via an Interface-Induced Polar State in Metallic Manganites journal August 2014
Effect of oxygen pressure on the interface related magnetic and transport properties of La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 /BaTiO 3 superlattices journal March 2006
Electronic reconstruction at an interface between a Mott insulator and a band insulator journal April 2004
Correlating interfacial octahedral rotations with magnetism in (LaMnO3+δ)N/(SrTiO3)N superlattices journal July 2014
Ultrathin Limit of Exchange Bias Coupling at Oxide Multiferroic/Ferromagnetic Interfaces journal July 2013
Self-Consistent Equations Including Exchange and Correlation Effects journal November 1965
Intrinsic Inhomogeneities in Manganite Thin Films Investigated with Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy journal November 2002
Colossal magnetoresistant materials: the key role of phase separation journal April 2001
Tunneling Electroresistance Induced by Interfacial Phase Transitions in Ultrathin Oxide Heterostructures journal November 2013
In situ magnetometry studies of magnetoelectric LSMO/PZT heterostructures journal March 2013
Origin of the Magnetoelectric Coupling Effect in Pb ( Zr 0.2 Ti 0.8 ) O 3 / La 0.8 Sr 0.2 MnO 3 Multiferroic Heterostructures journal March 2010
Control of magnetism in Pb(Zr 0.2 Ti 0.8 )O 3 /La 0.8 Sr 0.2 MnO 3 multiferroic heterostructures (invited) journal April 2011
Evidence of Orbital Reconstruction at Interfaces in Ultrathin La 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 Films journal April 2008
Improper ferroelectricity in perovskite oxide artificial superlattices journal April 2008
Thickness-Dependent Crossover from Charge- to Strain-Mediated Magnetoelectric Coupling in Ferromagnetic/Piezoelectric Oxide Heterostructures journal December 2013
Theory of polarization enhancement in epitaxial BaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices journal March 2003
Polarization screening-induced magnetic phase gradients at complex oxide interfaces journal April 2015
Strain-induced phase separation in La 0.7 Sr 0.3 Mn O 3 thin films journal December 2006
Electric field effect in correlated oxide systems journal August 2003
Visualizing the interfacial evolution from charge compensation to metallic screening across the manganite metal–insulator transition journal March 2014
A strong ferroelectric ferromagnet created by means of spin–lattice coupling journal August 2010
High On/Off Ratio Memristive Switching of Manganite/Cuprate Bilayer by Interfacial Magnetoelectricity journal May 2016
Tailoring the interfacial magnetic anisotropy in multiferroic field-effect devices journal September 2014
Emergent phenomena at oxide interfaces journal January 2012
Giant sharp and persistent converse magnetoelectric effects in multiferroic epitaxial heterostructures journal April 2007
An Emergent Change of Phase for Electronics journal March 2010
Electric field control of magnetism in multiferroic heterostructures journal July 2012
Large nonlinear dielectric properties of artificial BaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices journal May 2002
Control of Octahedral Tilts and Magnetic Properties of Perovskite Oxide Heterostructures by Substrate Symmetry journal November 2010
Tunable Quasi-Two-Dimensional Electron Gases in Oxide Heterostructures journal September 2006
Atomically engineered ferroic layers yield a room-temperature magnetoelectric multiferroic journal September 2016
Superconducting Interfaces Between Insulating Oxides journal August 2007
Unusual Behavior of the Ferroelectric Polarization in PbTiO 3 / SrTiO 3 Superlattices journal October 2005
Insulator-metal transition induced by interlayer coupling in La 0.6 Sr 0.4 MnO 3 / SrTiO 3 superlattices journal July 2001
Multiferroics progress and prospects in thin films journal January 2007
Large resistivity modulation in mixed-phase metallic systems journal January 2015
Artificial charge-modulationin atomic-scale perovskite titanate superlattices journal September 2002
Multiferroics and magnetoelectrics: thin films and nanostructures journal October 2008
Spatial control of functional properties via octahedral modulations in complex oxide superlattices journal December 2014
Orbital-Occupancy versus Charge Ordering and the Strength of Electron Correlations in Electron-Doped CaMnO 3 journal July 2007
Substrate coherency driven octahedral rotations in perovskite oxide films journal September 2010
Electric-field control of magnetic order above room temperature journal January 2014
Occurrence of a high-temperature superconducting phase in (CaCuO 2 ) n /(SrTiO 3 ) m superlattices journal October 2012
Multiferroic and magnetoelectric materials journal August 2006
Tuning magnetic anisotropy by interfacially engineering the oxygen coordination environment in a transition metal oxide journal March 2016
Multiferroic and Magnetoelectric Materials journal October 2006
Reducing Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and field-free spin-orbit torque switching in synthetic antiferromagnets journal May 2021
Competition and cooperation between antiferrodistortive and ferroelectric instabilities in the model perovskite SrTiO₃ text January 2014
Large resistivity modulation in mixed-phase metallic systems text January 2015
A strong ferroelectric ferromagnet created by means of spin–lattice coupling journal July 2011
Microscopic model for the ferroelectric field effect in oxide heterostructures text January 2011
Tunneling Electroresistance Induced by Interfacial Phase Transitions in Ultrathin Oxide Heterostructures text January 2013
Reversible modulation of orbital occupations via an interface-induced state in metallic manganites text January 2014
High On/Off Ratio Memristive Switching of Manganite-Cuprate Bilayer by Interfacial Magnetoelectricity text January 2015
Strain Doping: Reversible Single-Axis Control of a Complex Oxide Lattice via Helium Implantation text January 2015
Multiferroic materials and magnetoelectric physics: symmetry, entanglement, excitation, and topology text January 2015
Intrinsic Inhomogeneities in Manganite Thin Films Investigated with Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy text January 2002

Cited By (5)

Control of magnetic anisotropy by orbital hybridization with charge transfer in (La0.67Sr0.33MnO3)n/(SrTiO3)n superlattice journal September 2018
Octahedral coupling in (111)- and (001)-oriented La 2/3 Sr 1/3 MnO 3 /SrTiO 3 heterostructures journal November 2018
Atomic-scale mapping of interface reconstructions in multiferroic heterostructures journal December 2018
Strain-driven lattice distortion and the resultant magnetic properties of La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 /BaTiO 3 superlattices journal November 2019
Interface-induced magnetic polar metal phase in complex oxides journal November 2019