Hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy of LaVO3/SrTiO3 : Band alignment and electronic reconstruction

The authors study, as a promising candidate for photovoltaic applications, the Mott insulator LaVO${}_{3}$, epitaxially grown as a thin film on SrTiO${}_{3}$. They elucidate the electronic properties by electrical transport and photoemission measurements. The origin of the conducting interface is identified to be electronic reconstruction due to the polar discontinuity between film and substrate. The authors find a potential gradient in the film and a downward band bending in the substrate, with the electrons residing in interfacial Ti states.