Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Quantum many-body interactions in digital oxide superlattices

Nature Materials volume 11, pages 855–859 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Controlling the electronic properties of interfaces has enormous scientific and technological implications and has been recently extended from semiconductors to complex oxides that host emergent ground states not present in the parent materials1,2,3,4,5. These oxide interfaces present a fundamentally new opportunity where, instead of conventional bandgap engineering, the electronic and magnetic properties can be optimized by engineering quantum many-body interactions5,6,7. We use an integrated oxide molecular-beam epitaxy and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy system to synthesize and investigate the electronic structure of superlattices of the Mott insulator LaMnO3 and the band insulator SrMnO3. By digitally varying the separation between interfaces in (LaMnO3)2n/(SrMnO3)n superlattices with atomic-layer precision, we demonstrate that quantum many-body interactions are enhanced, driving the electronic states from a ferromagnetic polaronic metal to a pseudogapped insulating ground state. This work demonstrates how many-body interactions can be engineered at correlated oxide interfaces, an important prerequisite to exploiting such effects in novel electronics.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Overview of the superlattices’ electronic structure and properties.
Figure 2: The tight-binding parametrization.
Figure 3: Electronic structure of the hole pockets.
Figure 4: Strongly renormalized quasiparticle peak.
Figure 5: The pseudogap and temperature-dependent spectral weight.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Chakhalian, J. et al. Magnetism at the interface between ferromagnetic and superconducting oxides. Nature Phys. 2, 244–248 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Logvenov, G., Gozar, A. & Bozovic, I. High-temperature superconductivity in a single copper–oxygen plane. Science 326, 699–702 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Ohtomo, A. & Hwang, H. Y. A high-mobility electron gas at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterointerface. Nature 427, 423–426 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Okamoto, S. & Millis, A. J. Electronic reconstruction at an interface between a Mott insulator and a band insulator. Nature 428, 630–633 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Jang, H. W. et al. Metallic and insulating oxide interfaces controlled by electronic correlations. Science 331, 886–889 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Chakhalian, J., Millis, A. J. & Rondinelli, J. Whither the oxide interface. Nature Mater. 11, 92–94 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Dagotto, E. When oxides meet face to face. Science 318, 1076–1077 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Dagotto, E., Hotta, T. & Moreo, A. Colossal magnetoresistant materials: The key role of phase separation. Phys. Rep. 344, 1–153 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Salvador, P. A., Haghiri-Gosnet, A-M., Mercey, B., Hervieu, M. & Raveau, B. Growth and magnetoresistive properties of (LaMnO3)m(SrMnO3)n superlattices. Appl. Phys. Lett. 75, 2638–2640 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Bhattacharya, A. et al. Metal–insulator transition and its relation to magnetic structure in (LaMnO3)2n/(SrMnO3)n superlattices. Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 257203 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Adamo, C. et al. Tuning the metal–insulator transitions of (SrMnO3)n/(LaMnO3)2n superlattices: Role of interfaces. Phys. Rev. B 79, 045125 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Dong, S. et al. Magnetism, conductivity, and orbital order in (LaMnO3)2n/(SrMnO3)n superlattices. Phys. Rev. B 78, 201102 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Nanda, B. R. K. & Satpathy, S. Electronic and magnetic structure of the (LaMnO3)2n/(SrMnO3)n superlattices. Phys. Rev. B 79, 054428 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Aruta, C. et al. Evolution of magnetic phases and orbital occupation in (SrMnO3)n/(LaMnO3)2n superlattices. Phys. Rev. B 80, 140405 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Krempasky, J. et al. Effects of three-dimensional band structure in angle- and spin-resolved photoemission from half-metallic La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 . Phys. Rev. B 77, 165120 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Damascelli, A., Hussain, Z. & Shen, Z-X. Angle-resolved photoemission studies of the cuprate superconductors. Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 473–541 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Mannella, N. et al. Nodal quasiparticle in pseudogapped colossal magnetoresistive manganites. Nature 438, 474–478 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Chuang, Y-D., Gromko, A. D., Dessau, D. S., Kimura, T. & Tokura, Y. Fermi surface nesting and nanoscale fluctuating charge/orbital ordering in colossal magnetoresistive oxides. Science 292, 1509–1513 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Massee, F. et al. Bilayer manganites reveal polarons in the midst of a metallic breakdown. Nature Phys. 7, 978–982 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Smadici, S. et al. Electronic reconstruction at SrMnO3–LaMnO3 superlattice interfaces. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 196404 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Efros, A. L. & Shklovskii, B. I. Coulomb gap and low temperature conductivity of disordered systems. J. Phys. C 8, L49–L51 (1975).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Edwards, P. P. & Sienko, M. J. Universality aspects of the metal–nonmetal transition in condensed media. Phys. Rev. B 17, 2575–2581 (1978).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Moritomo, Y. et al. Giant magnetoresistance of manganese oxides with a layered perovskite structure. Nature 380, 141–144 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Larochelle, S. et al. Structural and magnetic properties of the single-layer manganese oxide La1−xSr1+xMnO4 . Phys. Rev. B 71, 024435 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Evtushinsky, D. V. et al. Bridging charge-orbital ordering and Fermi surface instabilities in half-doped single-layered manganite La0.5Sr1.5MnO4 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 147201 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Lin, C. & Millis, A. J. Theory of manganite superlattices. Phys. Rev. B 78, 184405 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Iorio, A., Perroni, C. A., Marigliano Ramaglia, V. & Cataudella, V. Electron-lattice and strain effects in manganite heterostructures: The case of a single interface. Phys. Rev. B 83, 085107 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Trinckauf, J. et al. Electronic confinement and ordering instabilities in colossal magnetoresistive bilayer manganites. Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 016403 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Salafranca, J., Gonzalo, A. & Dagotto, E. Electron-lattice coupling and partial nesting as the origin of Fermi arcs in manganites. Phys. Rev. B 80, 155133 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank L. Fitting Kourkoutis for helpful discussions and E. Kirkland for technical assistance. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (DMR-0847385), the Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers program through DMR-1120296, IMR-0417392 and DMR-9977547 (Cornell Center for Materials Research), a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholars award (20025), and New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Innovation (NYSTAR). J.A.M. acknowledges support from the Army Research Office in the form of a NDSEG fellowship. E.J.M. acknowledges the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for PGS support.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Eric J. Monkman and Carolina Adamo: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

    Eric J. Monkman, Daniel E. Shai, John W. Harter, Dawei Shen, Bulat Burganov & Kyle M. Shen

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

    Carolina Adamo & Darrell G. Schlom

  3. School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

    Julia A. Mundy & David A. Muller

  4. Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

    David A. Muller, Darrell G. Schlom & Kyle M. Shen

Authors
  1. Eric J. Monkman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Carolina Adamo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Julia A. Mundy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Daniel E. Shai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. John W. Harter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Dawei Shen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Bulat Burganov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. David A. Muller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Darrell G. Schlom
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Kyle M. Shen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

ARPES data was collected by E.J.M., D.E.S., J.W.H., D.S., B.B. and K.M.S. and analysed by E.J.M. and K.M.S. Film growth and X-ray diffraction were performed by C.A. Electron microscopy and spectroscopy measurements were performed by J.A.M. and D.A.M. The manuscript was prepared by E.J.M. and K.M.S. The study was planned and supervised by D.G.S. and K.M.S. All authors discussed results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kyle M. Shen.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 3305 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Monkman, E., Adamo, C., Mundy, J. et al. Quantum many-body interactions in digital oxide superlattices. Nature Mater 11, 855–859 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3405

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3405

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing