Publication Date:
2011-05-21
Description:
The competition between collective quantum phases in materials with strongly correlated electrons depends sensitively on the dimensionality of the electron system, which is difficult to control by standard solid-state chemistry. We have fabricated superlattices of the paramagnetic metal lanthanum nickelate (LaNiO(3)) and the wide-gap insulator lanthanum aluminate (LaAlO(3)) with atomically precise layer sequences. We used optical ellipsometry and low-energy muon spin rotation to show that superlattices with LaNiO(3) as thin as two unit cells undergo a sequence of collective metal-insulator and antiferromagnetic transitions as a function of decreasing temperature, whereas samples with thicker LaNiO(3) layers remain metallic and paramagnetic at all temperatures. Metal-oxide superlattices thus allow control of the dimensionality and collective phase behavior of correlated-electron systems.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Boris, A V -- Matiks, Y -- Benckiser, E -- Frano, A -- Popovich, P -- Hinkov, V -- Wochner, P -- Castro-Colin, M -- Detemple, E -- Malik, V K -- Bernhard, C -- Prokscha, T -- Suter, A -- Salman, Z -- Morenzoni, E -- Cristiani, G -- Habermeier, H-U -- Keimer, B -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2011 May 20;332(6032):937-40. doi: 10.1126/science.1202647.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Max-Planck-Institut fur Festkorperforschung, Heisenbergstrasse 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany. A.Boris@fkf.mpg.de〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21596986" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
Permalink