Artificial two-dimensional polar metal at room temperature

Cao, Yanwei and Wang, Zhen and Park, Se Young and Yuan, Yakun and Liu, Xiaoran and Nikitin, Sergey M and Akamatsu, Hirofumi and Kareev, M and Middey, S and Meyers, D and Thompson, P and Ryan, P J and Shafer, Padraic and N'Diaye, A and Arenholz, E and Gopalan, Venkatraman and Zhu, Yimei and Rabe, Karin M. and Chakhalian, J (2018) Artificial two-dimensional polar metal at room temperature. In: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 9 .

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Abstract

Polar metals, commonly defined by the coexistence of polar crystal structure and metallicity, are thought to be scarce because the long-range electrostatic fields favoring the polar structure are expected to be fully screened by the conduction electrons of a metal. Moreover, reducing from three to two dimensions, it remains an open question whether a polar metal can exist. Here we report on the realization of a room temperature two-dimensional polar metal of the B-site type in tri-color (tri-layer) superlattices BaTiO3/SrTiO3/LaTiO3. A combination of atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron energy-loss spectroscopy, optical second harmonic generation, electrical transport, and first-principles calculations have revealed the microscopic mechanisms of periodic electric polarization, charge distribution, and orbital symmetry. Our results provide a route to creating all-oxide artificial non-centrosymmetric quasi-two-dimensional metals with exotic quantum states including coexisting ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, and superconducting phases.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Publisher:	NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, MACMILLAN BUILDING, 4 CRINAN ST, LONDON N1 9XW, ENGLAND
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belong to NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, MACMILLAN BUILDING, 4 CRINAN ST, LONDON N1 9XW, ENGLAND
Department/Centre:	Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Physics
Date Deposited:	04 May 2018 18:49
Last Modified:	04 May 2018 18:49
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/59707

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