Metastable honeycomb SrTiO{sub 3}/SrIrO{sub 3} heterostructures
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California 92697 (United States)
- Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)
Recent theory predictions of exotic band topologies in (111) honeycomb perovskite SrIrO{sub 3} layers sandwiched between SrTiO{sub 3} have garnered much attention in the condensed matter physics and materials communities. However, perovskite SrIrO{sub 3} film growth in the (111) direction remains unreported, as efforts to synthesize pure SrIrO{sub 3} on (111) perovskite substrates have yielded films with monoclinic symmetry rather than the perovskite structure required by theory predictions. In this study, we report the synthesis of ultra-thin metastable perovskite SrIrO{sub 3} films capped with SrTiO{sub 3} grown on (111) SrTiO{sub 3} substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The atomic structure of the ultra-thin films was examined with scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), which suggests a perovskite layering distinct from the bulk SrIrO{sub 3} monoclinic phase. In-plane 3-fold symmetry for the entire heterostructure was confirmed using synchrotron surface X-ray diffraction to measure symmetry equivalent crystal truncation rods. Our findings demonstrate the ability to stabilize (111) honeycomb perovskite SrIrO{sub 3}, which provides an experimental avenue to probe the phenomena predicted for this material system.
- OSTI ID:
- 22591554
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 15; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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