Publication Date:
2011-02-19
Description:
The formation of two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) at complex oxide interfaces is directly influenced by the oxide electronic properties. We investigated how local electron correlations control the 2DEG by inserting a single atomic layer of a rare-earth oxide (RO) [(R is lanthanum (La), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), samarium (Sm), or yttrium (Y)] into an epitaxial strontium titanate oxide (SrTiO(3)) matrix using pulsed-laser deposition with atomic layer control. We find that structures with La, Pr, and Nd ions result in conducting 2DEGs at the inserted layer, whereas the structures with Sm or Y ions are insulating. Our local spectroscopic and theoretical results indicate that the interfacial conductivity is dependent on electronic correlations that decay spatially into the SrTiO(3) matrix. Such correlation effects can lead to new functionalities in designed heterostructures.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Jang, H W -- Felker, D A -- Bark, C W -- Wang, Y -- Niranjan, M K -- Nelson, C T -- Zhang, Y -- Su, D -- Folkman, C M -- Baek, S H -- Lee, S -- Janicka, K -- Zhu, Y -- Pan, X Q -- Fong, D D -- Tsymbal, E Y -- Rzchowski, M S -- Eom, C B -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2011 Feb 18;331(6019):886-9. doi: 10.1126/science.1198781.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21330538" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
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Chemistry and Pharmacology
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Computer Science
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Medicine
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Natural Sciences in General
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Physics
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