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Title: Intrinsic interfacial van der Waals monolayers and their effect on the high-temperature superconductor FeSe / SrTiO 3

Abstract

The sensitive dependence of monolayer materials on their environment often gives rise to unexpected properties. It was recently demonstrated that monolayer FeSe on a SrTiO3 substrate exhibits a much higher superconducting critical temperature Tc than the bulk material. Here, we examine the interfacial structure of FeSe/SrTiO3 and the effect of an interfacial Ti1+xO2 layer on the increased Tc using a combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy and density functional theory. We find Ti1+xO2 forms its own quasi-two-dimensional layer, bonding to both the substrate and the FeSe film by van der Waals interactions. The excess Ti in this layer can reconstruct the FeSe Fermi surface in a manner consistent with experimental observations. Moreover, the interfacial layer introduces symmetry-breaking distortions in the FeSe film that may favor a Tc increase. These results suggest that this common substrate may be functionalized to modify the electronic structure of a variety of thin films and monolayers.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1]
  1. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1598152
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1607310
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-09ER46554; AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review B
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 100; Journal Issue: 14; Journal ID: ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats

Sims, Hunter, Leonard, Donovan N., Birenbaum, Axiel Yaël L., Ge, Zhuozhi, Berlijn, Tom, Li, Lian, Cooper, Valentino R., Chisholm, Matthew F., and Pantelides, Sokrates T. Intrinsic interfacial van der Waals monolayers and their effect on the high-temperature superconductor FeSe/SrTiO3. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.100.144103.
Sims, Hunter, Leonard, Donovan N., Birenbaum, Axiel Yaël L., Ge, Zhuozhi, Berlijn, Tom, Li, Lian, Cooper, Valentino R., Chisholm, Matthew F., & Pantelides, Sokrates T. Intrinsic interfacial van der Waals monolayers and their effect on the high-temperature superconductor FeSe/SrTiO3. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.144103
Sims, Hunter, Leonard, Donovan N., Birenbaum, Axiel Yaël L., Ge, Zhuozhi, Berlijn, Tom, Li, Lian, Cooper, Valentino R., Chisholm, Matthew F., and Pantelides, Sokrates T. 2019. "Intrinsic interfacial van der Waals monolayers and their effect on the high-temperature superconductor FeSe/SrTiO3". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.144103. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1598152.
@article{osti_1598152,
title = {Intrinsic interfacial van der Waals monolayers and their effect on the high-temperature superconductor FeSe/SrTiO3},
author = {Sims, Hunter and Leonard, Donovan N. and Birenbaum, Axiel Yaël L. and Ge, Zhuozhi and Berlijn, Tom and Li, Lian and Cooper, Valentino R. and Chisholm, Matthew F. and Pantelides, Sokrates T.},
abstractNote = {The sensitive dependence of monolayer materials on their environment often gives rise to unexpected properties. It was recently demonstrated that monolayer FeSe on a SrTiO3 substrate exhibits a much higher superconducting critical temperature Tc than the bulk material. Here, we examine the interfacial structure of FeSe/SrTiO3 and the effect of an interfacial Ti1+xO2 layer on the increased Tc using a combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy and density functional theory. We find Ti1+xO2 forms its own quasi-two-dimensional layer, bonding to both the substrate and the FeSe film by van der Waals interactions. The excess Ti in this layer can reconstruct the FeSe Fermi surface in a manner consistent with experimental observations. Moreover, the interfacial layer introduces symmetry-breaking distortions in the FeSe film that may favor a Tc increase. These results suggest that this common substrate may be functionalized to modify the electronic structure of a variety of thin films and monolayers.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.100.144103},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1598152}, journal = {Physical Review B},
issn = {2469-9950},
number = 14,
volume = 100,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Mon Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

Journal Article:
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Cited by: 7 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: (top) Cross-sectional view of the FeSe/SrTiO3 interface. (a) HAADF image, with FeTe capping layers. An additional titanium oxide layer is visible above the standard TiO2-terminated STO surface. (b) Simulated HAADF image using a multislice code based on our (2x2) interface structure (without capping layer). (bottom) Intensity profiles (averagedmore » over a width of 8 pixels or about 13 pm) across the interface layer, showing excellent agreement between the experimental and simulated images of FeSe/Ti1.5O2/STO.« less

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Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.