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We conducted a comparative study of the rare-earth infinite-layer nickelates films, RNiO2 (R = La, Pr, and Nd) using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS). We found that the gross features of the orbital configurations are essentially the same, with minor variations in the detailed hybridization. For low-energy excitations, we unambiguously confirm the presence of damped magnetic excitations in all three compounds. By fitting to a linear spin-wave theory, comparable spin exchange coupling strengths and damping coefficients are extracted, indicating a universal magnetic structure in the infinite-layer nickelates. Interestingly, while signatures of a charge order are observed in LaNiO2 in the quasi-elastic region of the RIXS spectrum, it is absent in NdNiO2 and PrNiO2. This prompts further investigation into the universality and the origins of charge order within the infinite-layer inickelates., Comment: 8 figures. Accepted by Physical Review B

The discovery of superconductivity in infinite-layer nickelates brings us tantalizingly close to a new material class that mirrors the cuprate superconductors. Here, we report on magnetic excitations in these nickelates, measured using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the Ni L3-edge, to shed light on the material complexity and microscopic physics. Undoped NdNiO2 possesses a branch of dispersive excitations with a bandwidth of approximately 200 meV, reminiscent of strongly-coupled, antiferromagnetically aligned spins on a square lattice, despite a lack of evidence for long range magnetic order. The significant damping of these modes indicates the importance of coupling to rare-earth itinerant electrons. Upon doping, the spectral weight and energy decrease slightly, while the modes become overdamped. Our results highlight the role of Mottness in infinite-layer nickelates., Comment: This is the initially submitted version before revising for reviewers' comments. The peer-reviewed version has been accepted at Science and will be published soon

In polar-oxide interfaces, a certain number of monolayers (ML) is needed for conductivity to appear. This threshold for conductivity is explained by accumulating sufficient electric potential to initiate charge transfer to the interface. Here we study experimentally and theoretically the (111) SrTiO3/LaAlO3 interface where a critical thickness, tc, of nine epitaxial LaAlO3 ML is required to turn the interface from insulating to conducting and even superconducting. We show that tc decreases to 3ML when depositing a cobalt over-layer (capping) and 6ML for platinum capping. The latter result contrasts with the (100) interface, where platinum capping increases tc beyond the bare interface. The observed threshold for conductivity for the bare and the metal-capped interfaces is confirmed by our density functional theory calculations. Interestingly, for (111) SrTiO3/LaAlO3/Metal interfaces, conductivity appears concomitantly with superconductivity in contrast with the (100) SrTiO3/LaAlO3/Metal interfaces where tc is smaller than the critical thickness for superconductivity. We attribute this dissimilarity to the different orbital polarization of e'g for the (111) versus dxy for the (001) interface., Comment: 10+3 pages 7+5 figures

The recent discovery of superconductivity in Nd$_{1-x}$Sr$_{x}$NiO$_2$ has drawn significant attention in the field. A key open question regards the evolution of the electronic structure with respect to hole doping. Here, we exploit x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) to probe the doping dependent electronic structure of the NiO$_2$ planes. Upon doping, a higher energy feature in Ni $L_3$ edge XAS develops in addition to the main absorption peak. By comparing our data to atomic multiplet calculations including $D_{4h}$ crystal field, the doping induced feature is consistent with a $d^8$ spin singlet state, in which doped holes reside in the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbitals, similar to doped single band Hubbard models. This is further supported by orbital excitations observed in RIXS spectra, which soften upon doping, corroborating with Fermi level shift associated with increasing holes in the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Supplemental material included

The search for oxide materials with physical properties similar to the cuprate high Tc superconductors, but based on alternative transition metals such as nickel, has grown and evolved over time. The recent discovery of superconductivity in doped infinite-layer nickelates RNiO2 (R = rare-earth element) further strengthens these efforts.With a crystal structure similar to the infinite-layer cuprates - transition metal oxide layers separated by a rare-earth spacer layer - formal valence counting suggests that these materials have monovalent Ni1+ cations with the same 3d electron count as Cu2+ in the cuprates. Here, we use x-ray spectroscopy in concert with density functional theory to show that the electronic structure of RNiO2 (R = La, Nd), while similar to the cuprates, includes significant distinctions. Unlike cuprates with insulating spacer layers between the CuO2 planes, the rare-earth spacer layer in the infinite-layer nickelate supports a weakly-interacting three-dimensional 5d metallic state. This three-dimensional metallic state hybridizes with a quasi-two-dimensional, strongly correlated state with 3dx2-y2 symmetry in the NiO2 layers. Thus, the infinite-layer nickelate can be regarded as a sibling of the rare earth intermetallics, well-known for heavy Fermion behavior, where the NiO2 correlated layers play an analogous role to the 4f states in rare-earth heavy Fermion compounds. This unique Kondo- or Anderson-lattice-like "oxide-intermetallic" replaces the Mott insulator as the reference state from which superconductivity emerges upon doping., Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures

The dynamical processes associated with electric field manipulation of the polarization in a ferroelectric remain largely unknown but fundamentally determine the speed and functionality of ferroelectric materials and devices. Here we apply sub-picosecond duration, single-cycle terahertz pulses as an ultrafast electric field bias to prototypical BaTiO$_3$ ferroelectric thin films with the atomic-scale response probed by femtosecond x-ray scattering techniques. We show that electric fields applied perpendicular to the ferroelectric polarization drive large amplitude displacements of the titanium atoms along the ferroelectric polarization axis, comparable to that of the built-in displacements associated with the intrinsic polarization and incoherent across unit cells. This effect is associated with a dynamic rotation of the ferroelectric polarization switching on and then off on picosecond timescales. These transient polarization modulations are followed by long-lived vibrational heating effects driven by resonant excitation of the ferroelectric soft mode, as reflected in changes in the c-axis tetragonality. The ultrafast structural characterization described here enables direct comparison with first-principles-based molecular dynamics simulations, with good agreement obtained.

Vanadium dioxide, an archetypal correlated-electron material, undergoes an insulator-metal transition near room temperature that exhibits electron-correlation-driven and structurally-driven physics. Using ultrafast optical spectroscopy and x-ray scattering we show that these processes can be disentangled in the time domain. Specifically, following intense sub-picosecond electric-field excitation, a partial collapse of the insulating gap occurs within the first ps. Subsequently, this electronic reconfiguration initiates a change in lattice symmetry taking place on a slower timescale. We identify the kinetic energy increase of electrons tunneling in the strong electric field as the driving force, illustrating a novel method to control electronic interactions in correlated materials on an ultrafast timescale.

We studied the electronic and magnetic dynamics of ferromagnetic insulating BaFeO3 thin films by using pump-probe time-resolved resonant x-ray reflectivity at the Fe 2p edge. By changing the excitation density, we found two distinctly different types of demagnetization with a clear threshold behavior. We assigned the demagnetization change from slow (~ 150 ps) to fast (< 70 ps) to a transition into a metallic state induced by laser excitation. These results provide a novel approach for locally tuning magnetic dynamics. In analogy to heat assisted magnetic recording, metallization can locally tune the susceptibility for magnetic manipulation, allowing to spatially encode magnetic information., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

We investigated the electronic and magnetic properties of fully oxidized BaFeO3 thin films, which show ferromagnetic-insulating properties with cubic crystal structure, by hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES), x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). We analyzed the results with configuration-interaction (CI) cluster-model calculations for Fe4+, which showed good agreement with the experimental results. We also studied SrFeO3 thin films, which have an Fe4+ ion helical magnetism in cubic crystal structure, but are metallic at all temperatures. We found that BaFeO3 thin films are insulating with large magnetization (2.1muB/formula unit) under ~ 1 T, using valence-band HAXPES and Fe 2p XMCD, which is consistent with the previously reported resistivity and magnetization measurements. Although Fe 2p core-level HAXPES and Fe 2p XAS spectra of BaFeO3 and SrFeO3 thin films are quite similar, we compared the insulating BaFeO3 to metallic SrFeO3 thin films with valence-band HAXPES. The CI cluster-model analysis indicates that the ground state of BaFeO3 is dominated by d5L (L: ligand hole) configuration due to the negative charge transfer energy, and that the band gap has significant O 2p character. We revealed that the differences of the electronic and magnetic properties between BaFeO3 and SrFeO3 arise from the differences in their lattice constants, through affecting the strength of hybridization and bandwidth., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures

Electrical field and light-illumination have been two most widely used stimuli in tuning the conductivity of semiconductor devices. Via capacitive effect electrical field modifies the carrier density of the devices, while light-illumination generates extra carriers by exciting trapped electrons into conduction band1. Here, we report on an unexpected light illumination enhanced field effect in a quasi-two-dimensional electron gas (q2DEG) confined at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) interface which has been the focus of emergent phenomenon exploration2-14. We found that light illumination greatly accelerates and amplifies the field effect, driving the field-induced resistance growth which originally lasts for thousands of seconds into an abrupt resistance jump more than two orders of magnitude. Also, the field-induced change in carrier density is much larger than that expected from the capacitive effect, and can even be opposite to the conventional photoelectric effect. This work expands the space for novel effect exploration and multifunctional device design at complex oxide interfaces.

We report measurements of the gate-bias dependent band alignment, especially the confining potential profile, at the conducting LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (001) heterointerface using soft and hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Depth-profiling analysis reveals that a significant potential drop on the SrTiO3 side of the interface occurs within ~2 nm of the interface under negative gate bias voltage. These results demonstrate gate control of the collapse of permittivity at the interface, and explain the dramatic loss of electron mobility with back-gate depletion., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures

We report the operation of LaAlO_3 / SrTiO_3 depletion mode top-gated junction field-effect transistors using a range of LaAlO_3 thicknesses as the top gate insulator. Gated Hall bars show near ideal transistor characteristics at room temperature with on-off ratios greater than 1000. Lower temperature measurements demonstrate a systematic increase in the Hall mobility as the sheet carrier density in the channel is depleted via the top gate, providing a route to higher mobility, lower density electron gases in this system., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted for publication

We investigate the effect of the laser parameters of pulsed laser deposition on the film stoichiometry and electronic properties of LaAlO_3/SrTiO_3 (001) heterostructures. The La/Al ratio in the LaAlO_3 films was varied over a wide range from 0.88 to 1.15, and was found to have a strong effect on the interface conductivity. In particular, the carrier density is modulated over more than two orders of magnitude. The film lattice expansion, caused by cation vacancies, is found to be the important functional parameter. These results can be understood to arise from the variations in the electrostatic boundary conditions, and their resolution, with stoichiometry., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted for publication

We investigate the two-dimensional (2D) highly spin-polarized electron accumulation layers commonly appearing near the surface of n-type polar semiconductors BiTeX (X = I, Br, and Cl) by angular-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Due to the polarity and the strong spin-orbit interaction built in the bulk atomic configurations, the quantized conduction-band subbands show giant Rashba-type spin-splitting. The characteristic 2D confinement effect is clearly observed also in the valence-bands down to the binding energy of 4 eV. The X-dependent Rashba spin-orbit coupling is directly estimated from the observed spin-split subbands, which roughly scales with the inverse of the band-gap size in BiTeX., Comment: 15 pages 4 figures

Anisotropic magnetoresistance and negative magnetoresistance for in-plane fields are compared for the LaAlO3 /SrTiO3 interface and the symmetric Nb-doped SrTiO3 heterostructure. Both effects are exceptionally strong in LaAlO3 /SrTiO3 . We analyze their temperature, magnetic field and gate voltage dependencies and find them to arise from a Rashba type spin-orbit coupling with magnetic scatterers that have two contributions to their potential: spin exchange and Coulomb interaction. Atomic spin-orbit coupling is sufficient to explain the small effects observed in Nb-doped SrTiO3 . These results clarify contradicting transport interpretations in SrTiO3 -based heterostructures., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

We demonstrate control of the carrier density of single phase anatase TiO2 thin films by nearly two orders of magnitude by modulating the growth kinetics during pulsed laser deposition, under fixed thermodynamic conditions. The resistivity and the intensity of the photoluminescence spectra of these TiO2 samples, both of which correlate with the number of oxygen vacancies, are shown to depend strongly on the growth rate. A quantitative model is used to explain the carrier density changes., Comment: 13 pages 3 figures

We report the electron doping in the surface vicinity of KTaO_3 by inducing oxygen-vacancies via Ar^+ -irradiation. The doped electrons have high mobility (> 10^4 cm^2/Vs) at low temperatures, and exhibit Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations with both two- and three-dimensional components. A disparity of the extracted in-plane effective mass, compared to the bulk values, suggests mixing of the orbital characters. Our observations demonstrate that Ar^+ -irradiation serves as a flexible tool to study low dimensional quantum transport in 5d semiconducting oxides.

Scanning SQUID susceptometry images the local magnetization and susceptibility of a sample. By accurately modeling the SQUID signal we can determine the physical properties such as the penetration depth and permeability of superconducting samples. We calculate the scanning SQUID susceptometry signal for a superconducting slab of arbitrary thickness with isotropic London penetration depth, on a non-superconducting substrate, where both slab and substrate can have a paramagnetic response that is linear in the applied field. We derive analytical approximations to our general expression in a number of limits. Using our results, we fit experimental susceptibility data as a function of the sample-sensor spacing for three samples: 1) delta-doped SrTiO3, which has a predominantly diamagnetic response, 2) a thin film of LaNiO3, which has a predominantly paramagnetic response, and 3) a two-dimensional electron layer (2-DEL) at a SrTiO3/AlAlO3 interface, which exhibits both types of response. These formulas will allow the determination of the concentrations of paramagnetic spins and superconducting carriers from fits to scanning SQUID susceptibility measurements., Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures

We demonstrate the formation of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the $(100)$ surface of the $5d$ transition-metal oxide KTaO$_3$. From angle-resolved photoemission, we find that quantum confinement lifts the orbital degeneracy of the bulk band structure and leads to a 2DEG composed of ladders of subband states of both light and heavy carriers. Despite the strong spin-orbit coupling, our measurements provide a direct upper bound for potential Rashba spin splitting of only $\Delta{k}_\parallel\sim\0.02$ \AA$^{-1}$ at the Fermi level. The polar nature of the KTaO$_3(100)$ surface appears to help mediate formation of the 2DEG as compared to non-polar SrTiO$_3(100)$., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

Circular dichroism in the angular distribution (CDAD) of photoelectrons from SrTiO3:Nb and CuxBi2Se3 is investigated by 7-eV laser ARPES. In addition to the well-known node that occurs in CDAD when the incidence plane matches the mirror plane of the crystal, we show that another type of node occurs when the mirror plane of the crystal is vertical to the incidence plane and the electronic state is two dimensional. The flower-shaped CDAD's occurring around the Fermi level of SrTiO3:Nb and around the Dirac point of CuxBi2Se3 are explained on equal footings. We point out that the penetration depth of the topological states of CuxBi2Se3 depends on momentum.

LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 are insulating, nonmagnetic oxides, yet the interface between them exhibits a two-dimensional electron system with high electron mobility,1 superconductivity at low temperatures,2-6 and electric-field-tuned metal-insulator and superconductorinsulator phase transitions.3,6-8 Bulk magnetization and magnetoresistance measurements also suggest some form of magnetism depending on preparation conditions5,9-11 and suggest a tendency towards nanoscale electronic phase separation.10 Here we use local imaging of the magnetization and magnetic susceptibility to directly observe a landscape of ferromagnetism, paramagnetism, and superconductivity. We find submicron patches of ferromagnetism in a uniform background of paramagnetism, with a nonuniform, weak diamagnetic superconducting susceptibility at low temperature. These results demonstrate the existence of nanoscale phase separation as suggested by theoretical predictions based on nearly degenerate interface sub-bands associated with the Ti orbitals.12,13 The magnitude and temperature dependence of the paramagnetic response suggests that the vast majority of the electrons at the interface are localized, and do not contribute to transport measurements.3,6,7 In addition to the implications for magnetism, the existence of a 2D superconductor at an interface with highly broken inversion symmetry and a ferromagnetic landscape in the background suggests the potential for exotic superconducting phenomena., Comment: Edited version to appear in Nature Physics

We report the violation of the Pauli limit due to intrinsic spin-orbit coupling in SrTiO3 heterostructures. Via selective doping down to a few nanometers, a two-dimensional superconductor is formed, geometrically suppressing orbital pair-breaking. The spin-orbit scattering is exposed by the robust in-plane superconducting upper critical field, exceeding the Pauli limit by a factor of 4. Transport scattering times several orders of magnitude higher than for conventional thin film superconductors enables a new regime to be entered, where spin-orbit coupling effects arise non-perturbatively., Comment: main text 4 pages with 4 figures, supplemental material 2 pages with 2 figure, submitted for publication

We studied LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces for varying LaAlO3 thickness by core-level photoemission spectroscopy. In Ti 2p spectra for conducting "n-type" interfaces, Ti3+ signals appeared, which were absent for insulating "p-type" interfaces. The Ti3+ signals increased with LaAlO3 thickness, but started well below the critical thickness of 4 unit cells for metallic transport. Core-level shifts with LaAlO3 thickness were much smaller than predicted by the polar catastrophe model. We attribute these observations to surface defects/adsorbates providing charges to the interface even below the critical thickness.

The electronic structure of low-density n-type SrTiO3 delta-doped heterostructures is investigated by angular dependent Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. In addition to a controllable crossover from a three- to two-dimensional Fermi surface, clear beating patterns for decreasing dopant layer thicknesses are found. These indicate the lifting of the degeneracy of the conduction band due to subband quantization in the two-dimensional limit. Analysis of the temperature-dependent oscillations shows that similar effective masses are found for all components, associated with the splitting of the light electron pocket. The dimensionality crossover in the superconducting state is found to be distinct from the normal state, resulting in a rich phase diagram as a function of dopant layer thickness., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted for publication

We fabricated high-mobility {\delta}-doped structures in SrTiO3 thin films in order to investigate the low temperature electronic transport properties of confined carriers in this system. An enhancement of the electron mobility above the bulk value was observed as the doped layer thickness decreased. High-field Hall measurements revealed that this mobility enhancement originates from higher-mobility electrons in the undoped clean regions, which have quantum-mechanically broadened from the doped layer. Because of the absence of apparent lattice misfit between the layers, this structure is highly suitable for investigating two-dimensional electron gases in SrTiO3., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures

We report bulk-quality n-type SrTiO3 (n-SrTiO3) thin films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition, with electron mobility as high as 6600 cm2 V-1 s-1 at 2 K and carrier density as low as 2.0 x 10^18cm-3 (~ 0.02 at. %), far exceeding previous pulsed laser deposition films. This result stems from precise strontium and oxygen vacancy defect chemistry management, providing a general approach for defect control in complex oxide heteroepitaxy., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures

We report spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements of the anisotropy of the interband transitions parallel and perpendicular to the planes of (LaTiO3)n(LaAlO3)5 multilayers with n = 1-3. These provide direct information about the electronic structure of the two-dimensional (2D) 3d^1 state of the Ti ions. In combination with LDA+U calculations, we suggest that 2D confinement in the TiO2 slabs lifts the degeneracy of the t_{2g} states leaving only the planar d_xy orbitals occupied. We outline that these multilayers can serve as a model system for the study of the t_{2g} 2D Hubbard model., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

We have found that there is more than one type of conducting carriers generated in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures by comparing the sheet carrier density and mobility from optical transmission spectroscopy with those from dc-transport measurements. When multiple types of carriers exist, optical characterization dominantly reflects the contribution from the high-density carriers whereas dc-transport measurements may exaggerate the contribution of the high-mobility carriers even though they are present at low-density. Since the low-temperature mobilities determined by dc-transport in the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures are much higher than those extracted by optical method, we attribute the origin of high-mobility transport to the low-density conducting carriers., Comment: 3 figures, supplemental material

Caviglia et al. [Nature (London) 456, 624 (2008)] have found that the superconducting LaAlO_3 / SrTiO_3 interface can be gate modulated. A central issue is to determine the principal effect of the applied electric field. Using magnetotransport studies of a gated structure, we find that the mobility variation is almost five times as large as the sheet carrier density. Furthermore, superconductivity can be suppressed at both positive and negative gate bias. These results indicate that the relative disorder strength strongly increases across the superconductor-insulator transition., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

We present an x-ray absorption study of the dependence of the V oxidation state on the thickness of LaVO$_3$ (LVO) and capping LaAlO$_3$ (LAO) layers in the multilayer structure of LVO sandwiched between LAO. We found that the change of the valence of V as a function of LAO layer thickness can be qualitatively explained by a transition between electronically reconstructed interfaces and a chemical reconstruction. The change as a function of LVO layer thickness is complicated by the presence of a considerable amount of V$^{4+}$ in the bulk of the thicker LVO layers., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

We report on a heretofore unnoted giant negative magnetocapacitance (>20%) in non-magnetic Au/GaAs:Si Schottky barriers that we attribute to a magnetic field in-duced increase in the binding energy of the shallow donor Si impurity atoms. Depletion capacitance (Cdep) dispersion identifies the impurity ionization and capture processes that give rise to a magnetic field dependent density of ionized impurities. Internal photoemission experiments confirm that the large field-induced shifts in the built-in potential, inferred from 1/Cdep^2 vs voltage measurements, are not due to a field-dependent Schottky barrier height, thus requiring a modification of the abrupt junction approximation that accounts for the observed magnetodielectric coupling., Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B

The electronic transport properties of a series of LaAlO_3 / SrTiO_3 interfaces were investigated, and a systematic thickness dependence of the sheet resistance and magnetoresistance was found for constant growth conditions. This trend occurs above the critical thickness of four unit cells, below which the LaAlO_3 / SrTiO_3 interface is not conducting. A dramatic decrease in mobility of the electron gas of nearly two orders of magnitude was observed with increasing LaAlO_3 thickness from five to 25 unit cells., Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, submitted for publication

The electronic symmetry of the SrTiO3/LaAlO3 interface was investigated by optical second harmonic generation, using superlattices with varying periodicity to study the evolution of the electronic reconstruction while avoiding substrate contributions. The superlattices show large perpendicular optical nonlinearity, which abruptly increases when the sublattice thickness goes above 3 unit cells, revealing substantial effects of the polar-nonpolar interface. The nonlinear 'active' area is primarily in SrTiO3, develops with increasing thickness, and extends up to 8 unit cells from the interface., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

We present evidence for hole injection into LaAlO3/LaVO3/LaAlO3 quantum wells near a polar surface of LaAlO3 (001). As the surface is brought in proximity to the LaVO3 layer, an exponential drop in resistance and a decreasing positive Seebeck coefficient is observed below a characteristic coupling length of 10-15 unit cells. We attribute this behavior to a crossover from an atomic reconstruction of the AlO2-terminated LaAlO3 surface to an electronic reconstruction of the vanadium valence. These results suggest a general approach to tunable hole-doping in oxide thin film heterostructures., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures

We investigated the electronic structure of the SrTiO$_3$/LaAlO$_3$ superlattice (SL) by resonant soft x-ray scattering. The (003) peak, which is forbidden for our "ideal" SL structure, was observed at all photon energies, indicating reconstruction at the interface. From the peak position analyses taking into account the effects of refraction, we obtained evidence for electronic reconstruction of Ti 3d and O $2p$ states at the interface. From reflectivity analyses, we concluded that the AlO$_2$/LaO/TiO$_2$/SrO and the TiO$_2$/SrO/AlO$_2$/LaO interfaces are quite different, leading to highly asymmetric properties., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

At interfaces between polar and nonpolar perovskite oxides, an unusual electron-doping has been previously observed, due to electronic reconstructions. We report on remote hole-doping at an interface composed of only polar layers, revealed by high-resolution hard x-ray core-level photoemission spectroscopy. In LaAlO3/LaVO3/LaAlO3 trilayers, the vanadium valence systematically evolves from the bulk value of V3+ to higher oxidation states with decreasing LaAlO3 cap layer thickness. These results provide a synthetic approach to hole-doping transition metal oxide heterointerfaces without invoking a polar discontinuity.

We observed a strong modulation in the current-voltage characteristics of SrRuO$_3$/Nb:SrTiO$_3$ Schottky junctions by Mn substitution in SrRuO$_3$, which induces a metal-insulator transition in bulk. The temperature dependence of the junction ideality factor indicates an increased spatial inhomogeneity of the interface potential with substitution. Furthermore, negative differential resistance was observed at low temperatures, indicating the formation of a resonant state by Mn substitution. By spatially varying the position of the Mn dopants across the interface with single unit cell control, we can isolate the origin of this resonant state to the interface SrRuO$_3$ layer. These results demonstrate a conceptually different approach to controlling interface states by utilizing the highly sensitive response of conducting perovskites to impurities.

We have investigated the extreme quantum limit of photogenerated electrons in quantum paraelectric SrTiO3. This regime is distinct from conventional semiconductors, due to the large electron effective mass and large lattice dielectric constant. At low temperature, the magnetoresistance and Hall resistivity saturate at high magnetic field, deviating from conventional behavior. As a result, the Hall coefficient vanishes on the scale of the ratio of the Landau level splitting to the thermal energy, indicating the essential role of lowest Landau level occupancy, as limited by thermal broadening., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

We have investigated the transport properties of LaVO_3/SrTiO_3 Mott insulator/band insulator heterointerfaces for various configurations. The (001)-oriented n-type VO_2/LaO/TiO_2 polar discontinuity is conducting, exhibiting a LaVO_3 thickness-dependent metal-insulator transition and low temperature anomalous Hall effect. The (001) p-type VO_2/SrO/TiO_2 interface, formed by inserting a single layer of bulk metallic SrVO_3 or SrO, drives the interface insulating. The (110) heterointerface is also insulating, indicating interface conduction arising from electronic reconstructions., Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures

We have observed temperature-dependent reversal of the rectifying polarity in Au/Nb:SrTiO3 Schottky junctions. By simulating current-voltage characteristics we have found that the permittivity of SrTiO3 near the interface exhibits temperature dependence opposite to that observed in the bulk, significantly reducing the barrier width. At low temperature, tunneling current dominates the junction transport due both to such barrier narrowing and to suppressed thermal excitations. The present results demonstrate that novel junction properties can be induced by the interface permittivity.

We report magnetotransport properties of photogenerated electrons in undoped SrTiO$_3$ single crystals under ultraviolet illumination down to 2 K. By tuning the light intensity, the steady state carrier density can be controlled, while tuning the wavelength controls the effective electronic thickness by modulating the optical penetration depth. At short wavelengths, when the sheet conductance is close to the two-dimensional Mott minimum conductivity we have observed critical behavior characteristic of weak localization. Negative magnetoresistance at low magnetic field is highly anisotropic, indicating quasi-two-dimensional electronic transport. The high mobility of photogenerated electrons in SrTiO$_3$ allows continuous tuning of the effective electronic dimensionality by photoexcitation., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures

We have studied the electronic structure of multilayers composed of a band insulator LaAlO$_3$ (LAO) and a Mott insulator LaVO$_3$ (LVO) by means of hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, which has a probing depth as large as $\sim 60 {\AA}$. The Mott-Hubbard gap of LVO remained open at the interface, indicating that the interface is insulating unlike the LaTiO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ multilayers. We found that the valence of V in LVO were partially converted from V$^{3+}$ to V$^{4+}$ only at the interface on the top side of the LVO layer and that the amount of V$^{4+}$ increased with LVO layer thickness. We suggest that the electronic reconstruction to eliminate the polarity catastrophe inherent in the polar heterostructure is the origin of the highly asymmetric valence change at the LVO/LAO interfaces., Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures

Internal photoemission spectroscopy was used to determine the Schottky barrier height in rectifying SrRuO3/Nb-doped SrTiO3 junctions for 0.01 wt % and 0.5 wt % Nb concentrations. Good agreement was obtained with the barrier height deduced from capacitance-voltage measurements, provided that a model of the nonlinear permittivity of SrTiO3 was incorporated in extrapolating the built-in potential, particularly for high Nb concentrations. Given the generic polarizability of perovskites under internal/external electric fields, internal photoemission provides a valuable independent probe of the interface electronic structure., Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures

Electrons at interfaces, driven to minimize their free energy, are distributed differently than in bulk. This can be dramatic at interfaces involving heterovalent compounds. Here we profile an abrupt interface between V 3d2 LaVO3 and V 3d0 LaVO4 using electron energy loss spectroscopy. Although no bulk phase of LaVOx with a V 3d1 configuration exists, we find a nanometer-wide region of V 3d1 at the LaVO3/LaVO4 interface, rather than a mixture of V 3d0 and V 3d2. The two-dimensional sheet of 3d1 electrons is a prototypical electronic reconstruction at an interface between competing ground states., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures

We have found that the current- voltage characteristics of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3(-delta)/Nb:SrTiO3 rectifying junctions are quantitatively well-described by (thermally-assisted) tunneling with an effectively temperature-independent Schottky barrier under no magnetic field, while those of the oxygen deficient junction remarkably deviate from such a simple behavior as magnetic field is applied. These results indicate a new form of magnetoresistance arising from magnetic field changes of the interface band diagram via the strong electron-spin coupling in manganites., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

We used x-ray photoemission spectroscopy to investigate the electronic structure of the Mott insulator LaVO3 embedded in LaAlO3. By limiting the upper layer of LaAlO3 to 3 unit cells, the underlying LaVO3 could be probed. The V 2p core-level spectra had both V3+ and V4+ components, and above 2 unit cell thick LaVO3, the structures exhibited spectra similar to bulk samples. The atomically flat surfaces enabled study of the emission angle dependence, which indicates the V4+ is localized to the topmost layer. These results demonstrate the potential for probing interface electronic structure in oxide ultrathin films by surface spectroscopy., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

The atomic-level control achievable in artificially-structured oxide superlattices provides a unique opportunity to explore interface phases of matter including high-density 2D electron gases. Electronic-structure calculations show that the charge distribution of the 2D gas is strongly modulated by electron-phonon interactions with significant ionic polarization. Anharmonic finite-temperature effects must be included to reproduce experiment. Density functional perturbation theory is used to parameterize a simple model introduced to represent these effects and predict temperature dependencies., Comment: 16 pages including figures Added references 5 and 24, structure picture to Fig. 4, and new paragraph at end of Sec. III

We present a rectifying manganite-titanate heterojunction exhibiting a magnetic field tunable depletion layer. This creates a large positive magnetocapacitance, a direct measure of the field-induced reduction of the effective depletion width across the junction. Furthermore, the reduction of the junction barrier shifts the forward bias characteristics, giving exponentially-enhanced differential magnetoresistance, occurring despite the absence of a spin filter. These results provide a unique probe of a Mott insulator/band insulator interface, and further suggest new electronic devices incorporating the magnetic field sensitivity of these strongly correlated electron materials., Comment: 14 pages with 4 figures