Many-body effects in spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas

Many-body effects on the spin polarization are studied in an n channel inversion layer on Si (1 0 0) surface in a magnetic field parallel to the surface in random phase approximation. The spin polarization exhibits a discrete jump to a full polarization at the critical magnetic field in the low-density regime and the critical field is reduced considerably from that estimated by an extrapolation based on the zero-field susceptibility.     

Enhanced tunability of two-dimensional electron gas on SrTiO3 through heterostructuring

Two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) on the SrTiO₃ (STO) surface or in STO-based heterostructures have exhibited many intriguing phenomena, which are strongly dependent on the 2DEG-carrier density. We report that the tunability of the 2DEG-carrier density is significantly enhanced by adding a monolayer LaTiO₃ (LTO) onto the STO. Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation induced maximum carrier density of the 2DEG in LTO/STO is increased by a factor of ~4 times, compared to that of the bare STO. By oxygen gas exposure, it becomes 10 times smaller than that of the bare STO. This enhanced tunability is attributed to the drastic surface property change of a polar LTO layer by UV irradiation and O₂ exposure. This indicates that the 2DEG controllability in LTO/STO is more reliable than that on the bare STO driven by defects, such an oxygen vacancy.     

Anisotropic pinned/biased magnetization in SrRuO3/SrMnO3 superlattices

The exchange coupling at the interfaces of magnetic superlattices consisting of ferromagnetic SrRuO3 and antiferromagnetic SrMnO3 grown on (001) oriented SrTiO3 is studied with in-plane and out-of-plane orientations of the cooling magnetic field, with respect to the substrate plane. The magnetization of the in-plane, field cooled hysteresis loop is lower than the corresponding in-plane zero-field-cooled hysteresis loop. The out-of-plane field cooled hysteresis loop is shifted, from the origin, along the graphical magnetization axis. We attribute this irreversible rotation of the moment to the pinning/biasing of spin in the SrRuO3 layer in the vicinity of interfaces by the antiferromagnetic SrMnO3 layer.     

Detection of spin-polarized electrons injected into a two-dimensional electron gas

The spin-dependent mean-free path of electrons in a high-mobility InAs two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) is measured. Ferromagnetic metal/insulator/2DEG junctions are fabricated on a common channel in a nonlocal geometry and used as spin injectors and detectors. For electrons in spin-orbit eigenstates at 4.5 K, lower bounds for the spin mean-free path and relaxation time are Lambda(S) > or = 4.6 microm and tau(s) > or = 3.8 ps, respectively. The temperature dependence is weak over the range 4.5相似文献   

Realization of a spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas via image-potential-induced surface states

Electrons in image-potential-induced surface states form a two-dimensional electron gas in front of the surfaces. In the case of ferromagnets, their binding energies as well as lifetimes depend on the orientation of their spin magnetic moment with respect to the magnetization direction. Various experiments with inverse photoemission and two-photon photoemission to detect the spin dependence of image states are reviewed. A new and successful approach to achieve and detect a spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas is presented, namely polarization-dependent and spin-resolved two-photon photoemission. Additional time resolution opens the way to study spin-dependent electron dynamics.     

Current-induced spin polarization in a spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit coupling

The current-induced spin polarization (CISP) is investigated in a combined Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit-coupled two-dimensional electron gas, subjected to a homogeneous out-of-plane magnetization. It is found that, in addition to the usual collision-related in-plane parts of CISP, there are two impurity-density-free contributions, arising from intrinsic and disorder-mediated mechanisms. The intrinsic parts of spin polarization are related to the Berry curvature, analogous with the anomalous and spin Hall effects. For short-range collision, the disorder-mediated spin polarizations completely cancel the intrinsic ones and the total in-plane components of CISP equal those for systems without magnetization. However, for remote disorders, this cancellation does not occur and the total in-plane components of CISP strongly depend on the spin-orbit interaction coefficients and magnetization for both pure Rashba and combined Rashba-Dresselhaus models.     

Photoemission from buried interfaces in SrTiO3/LaTiO3 superlattices

We have measured photoemission spectra of SrTiO3/LaTiO3 superlattices with a topmost SrTiO3 layer of variable thickness. A finite coherent spectral weight with a clear Fermi cutoff was observed at chemically abrupt SrTiO3/LaTiO3 interfaces, indicating that an "electronic reconstruction" occurs at the interface between the Mott insulator LaTiO3 and the band insulator SrTiO3. For SrTiO3/LaTiO3 interfaces annealed at high temperatures (approximately 1000 degrees C), which leads to Sr/La atomic interdiffusion and hence to the formation of La(1-x)Sr(x)TiO3-like material, the intensity of the incoherent part was found to be dramatically reduced whereas the coherent part with a sharp Fermi cutoff was enhanced due to the spread of charge. These important experimental features are well reproduced by layer dynamical-mean-field-theory calculation.     

The conductivity of the spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas: Exchange/correlation and strong disorder effects

The conductivity of a spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas is calculated and compared with the conductivity of the unpolarized electron gas. Disorder effects are considered within the self-consistent current relaxation theory, which gives rise to a crossover point from metallic to insulating behavior. Many-body effects due to exchange and correlation are taken into account and are described by a local-field correction. Our calculations are in good agreement with recent experimental results on the magnetoresistance of silicon inversion layers.     

Lattice relaxation in oxide heterostructures: LaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices

Local density approximation + Hubbard U and many-body effective Hamiltonian calculations are used to determine the effects of lattice relaxation in LaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices. Large ferroelectric-like distortions of the TiO6 octahedra are found, which substantially affect the Ti d-electron density, bringing the calculated results into good agreement with experimental data. The relaxations also change the many-body physics, leading to a novel symmetry-breaking-induced ordering of the xy orbitals, which does not occur in bulk LaTiO3, or in the hypothetical unrelaxed structure.     

Unusual behavior of the ferroelectric polarization in PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices

Artificial PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices were constructed using off-axis rf magnetron sputtering. X-ray diffraction and piezoelectric atomic force microscopy were used to study the evolution of the ferroelectric polarization as the ratio of PbTiO3 to SrTiO3 was changed. For PbTiO3 layer thicknesses larger than the 3-unit cell SrTiO3 thickness used in the structure, the polarization is found to be reduced as the thickness is decreased. This observation confirms the primary role of the depolarization field in the polarization reduction in thin films. For the samples with ratios of PbTiO3 to SrTiO3 of less than one, a surprising recovery of ferroelectricity that cannot be explained by electrostatic considerations was observed.     

Effective mass suppression in dilute, spin-polarized two-dimensional electron systems

We report effective mass (m*) measurements, via analyzing the temperature dependence of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, for dilute, interacting, two-dimensional electron systems (2DESs) occupying a single conduction-band valley in AlAs quantum wells. When the 2DES is partially spin-polarized, m* is larger than its band value, consistent with previous results on various 2DESs. However, as we fully spin-polarize the 2DES by subjecting it to strong parallel magnetic fields, m* is unexpectedly suppressed and falls even below the band mass.     

Optical study of the free-carrier response of LaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices

We used infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry to investigate the electronic properties of LaTiO_{3}/SrTiO_{3} superlattices (SLs). Our results indicated that, independent of the SL periodicity and individual layer thickness, the SLs exhibited a Drude metallic response with sheet carrier density per interface approximately 3x10;{14} cm;{-2}. This is probably due to the leakage of d electrons at interfaces from the Mott insulator LaTiO3 to the band insulator SrTiO3. We observed a carrier relaxation time approximately 35 fs and mobility approximately 35 cm;{2} V-1 s;{-1} at 10 K, and an unusual temperature dependence of carrier density that was attributed to the dielectric screening of quantum paraelectric SrTiO3.     

Laser‐induced magnetisation dynamics in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/SrRuO3 superlattices

Laser‐induced magnetisation dynamics of a La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃/SrRuO₃ superlattice is studied by means of a single‐colour optical pump‐probe technique. Significant differences in the magnetisation dynamics of a superlattice with respect to the single layers of constituent materials are demonstrated. Below the Curie temperature T_C of SrRuO₃, laser‐induced ultrafast demagnetisation is found to be followed by a uniform precession of the magnetisation around its new equilibrium. The data is described within a simple model based on a displacive excitation of a precessional magnetisation dynamics. The model is shown to give a good fit to the experimental data. As the initial temperature approaches T_C, the oscillations get suppressed and eventually vanish. The magnetisation dynamics is shown to depend on whether the two distinct magnetisation vectors in the superlattice are ferromagnetically or antiferromagnetically aligned. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The ferroelectric field effect on the two-dimensional electron gas at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (001) interface: Insights from first principle simulations

We perform first-principles calculations to explore the possibility of tuning the two-dimensional electron gas at the LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ (001) interface through BaTiO₃ substrate. A metal-to-insulator transition is found at the interface as the polarization of BaTiO₃ reverses. Through the potential analysis of the LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃/BaTiO₃ superstructure, we find that the intrinsic electric field of LaAlO₃ is significantly suppressed as the polarization points away from the LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ interface, while it is enhanced with the polarization pointing to the interface. The ferroelectric field control of the intrinsic electric field, and therefore the electronic reconstructions at the interface, originating from the screening of polarization charges, opens the way to the development of novel nanoscale electronic devices.     

Anomalous strain effect in heteroepitaxial SrRuO3 films on (111) SrTiO3 substrates

We report comprehensive investigations into the structure of high-quality (111)-oriented SrRuO₃ films on SrTiO₃ substrates to elucidate the effect of (111) heteroepitaxial strain. We found that SrRuO₃ film with a thickness of ～ 40 nm is compressively strained in plane on the substrate with full coherency. Nevertheless, the out-of-plane spacing is almost the same as in the bulk, which is at odds with the conventional paradigm. By probing a series of half-order Bragg reflections using synchrotron-based x-ray diffraction combined with analyses of the scanning transmission electron microscopy images, we discovered that the heteroepitaxial strain is accommodated via significant suppression of the degree of c⁺ octahedral tilting and the formation of three equivalent domain structures on the (111) SrTiO₃ substrate. This anomalous effect sheds light on the understanding of an unconventional paradigm of film-substrate coupling for the (111) heteroepitaxial strain.     

Size effect on SrRuO3/BaTiO3/SrRuO3 ferroelectric ultrathin film capacitor

We have carried out a detailed investigation on the size effect on SrRuO₃/BaTiO₃/SrRuO₃ ferroelectric ultrathin film capacitors with film thickness fully strained with a SrTiO₃ substrate. We employ the transverse field Ising model, taking into account the incomplete charge compensation of the realistic SrRuO₃ electrode and the misfit strain imposed by the SrTiO₃ substrate in the Hamiltonian, to quantitatively explain the experimental observation in the literature. It is found that BaTiO₃ ultrathin films between two metallic electrodes lose their ferroelectric properties below a critical thickness of about 4.17 nm due to the enhancement of the quantum effect under the influence of the incomplete charge compensation of the electrode.     

Diamagnetism of a confined electron gas

We consider a free electron gas in the presence of a uniform magnetic field and confined by a cylindrically symmetric harmonic potential in the directions normal to the field. The density matrix in Boltzmann statistics is evaluated exactly and it is shown that the electron gas rotates uniformly under the influence of the field. The corresponding Wigner distribution function is also studied.