Conductivity and band alignment of LaCrO_3/SrTiO_3(111) heterostructure

In this work,we investigate the electrical transport property and electronic structure of oxide heterostructure LaCrO_3/SrTiO_3(111).The interface grown under relatively low oxygen partial pressure is found to be metallic with a conducting critical thickness of 11 unit cells of LaCrO_3.This criticality is also observed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,in which the Ti~(3+) signal intensity at the spectrum edge of the Ti-2p_(3/2) core level increases rapidly when the critical thickness is reached.The variations of the valence band offset and full width at half maximum of the core-level spectrum with LaCrO_3 thickness suggest that the built-in fields exist both in LaCrO_3 and in SrTiO_3.Two possible origins are proposed:the charge transfer from LaCrO_3 and the formation of a quantum well in SrTiO_3.Our results shed light on the understanding of the doping mechanism at the polar/non-polar oxide interface.Moreover,due to the interesting lattice and spin structure of LCO in the(111) direction,our work provides a basis for further exploring the novel topological quantum phenomena in this system.     

In-plane anisotropy in two-dimensional electron gas at LaAlO_3/SrTiO_3(110) interface

A systematic study of the two-dimensional electron gas at La AlO_3/SrTiO_3(110) interface reveals an anisotropy along two specific directions, [001] and 1ī0. The anisotropy becomes distinct for the interface prepared under high oxygen pressure with low carrier density. Angular dependence of magnetoresistance shows that the electron confinement is stronger along the 1ī0 direction. Gate-tunable magnetoresistance reveals a clear in-plane anisotropy of the spin–orbit coupling,and the spin relaxation mechanism along both directions belongs to D'yakonov–Perel'(DP) scenario. Moreover, in-plane anisotropic superconductivity is observed for the sample with high carrier density, the superconducting transition temperature is lower but the upper critical field is higher along the 1ī0 direction. This in-plane anisotropy could be ascribed to the anisotropic band structure along the two crystallographic directions.