Optical Study of Tetragonal Domains in LaAlO3/SrTiO3

Z. Erlich; Y. Frenkel; J. Drori; Y. Shperber; C. Bell; H. K. Sato; M. Hosoda; Y. Xie; Y. Hikita; H. Y. Hwang; B. Kalisky

doi:10.1007/s10948-014-2714-x

Optical Study of Tetragonal Domains in LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃

Z. Erlich, Y. Frenkel, J. Drori, Y. Shperber, C. Bell, H. K. Sato, M. Hosoda, Y. Xie, Y. Hikita, H. Y. Hwang, B. Kalisky

Department of Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) measurements recently revealed enhanced channels of conductivity at the conducting LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ (LAO/STO) interface (Kalisky et al. Nat. Mater. 12, 1091 2013). The orientation of the channels and their thermal behavior suggest that they originate as a consequence of the STO tetragonal domain formation which sets in below ∼105 K. In this work, we use polarized light microscopy to acquire images of the tetragonal domains in the same group of LAO/STO samples. We looked at the configuration of the domains (orientation and spacing) and followed their behavior as a function of temperature and back-gate voltage. The optical data agrees with the electrical behavior mapped magnetically. This direct and independent study of the domain structure confirms that the channel-like conductivity in LAO/STO is due to the STO tetragonal domain structure and emphasizes the importance of STO physics to the interfacial properties. These results demonstrate how small structural changes in perovskite crystals strongly influence the electronic characteristics of heterostructures.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1017-1020
Number of pages	4
Journal	Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism
Volume	28
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10948-014-2714-x
State	Published - 25 Feb 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Funding

We thank K. Moler, E. Zeldov, and Y. Yeshurun for their fruitful discussions and for the use of their optical setups. ZE, YF, YS, and BK acknowledge the support from the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 1102/13) and the EC grant no. FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG-333799. CB, HKS, MH, YX, YH, and HYH acknowledge the support by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.

Funders	Funder number
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Department of Energy
Basic Energy Sciences
Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering	DE-AC02-76SF00515
European Commission	FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG-333799
Israel Science Foundation	1102/13

Keywords

LaAlO3/SrTiO3
Polarized light microscopy
Tetragonal domains

Access to Document

10.1007/s10948-014-2714-x

Cite this

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title = "Optical Study of Tetragonal Domains in LaAlO3/SrTiO3",

abstract = "Scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) measurements recently revealed enhanced channels of conductivity at the conducting LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) interface (Kalisky et al. Nat. Mater. 12, 1091 2013). The orientation of the channels and their thermal behavior suggest that they originate as a consequence of the STO tetragonal domain formation which sets in below ∼105 K. In this work, we use polarized light microscopy to acquire images of the tetragonal domains in the same group of LAO/STO samples. We looked at the configuration of the domains (orientation and spacing) and followed their behavior as a function of temperature and back-gate voltage. The optical data agrees with the electrical behavior mapped magnetically. This direct and independent study of the domain structure confirms that the channel-like conductivity in LAO/STO is due to the STO tetragonal domain structure and emphasizes the importance of STO physics to the interfacial properties. These results demonstrate how small structural changes in perovskite crystals strongly influence the electronic characteristics of heterostructures.",

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AU - Shperber, Y.

AU - Bell, C.

AU - Sato, H. K.

AU - Hosoda, M.

AU - Xie, Y.

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AU - Hwang, H. Y.

AU - Kalisky, B.

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AB - Scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) measurements recently revealed enhanced channels of conductivity at the conducting LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) interface (Kalisky et al. Nat. Mater. 12, 1091 2013). The orientation of the channels and their thermal behavior suggest that they originate as a consequence of the STO tetragonal domain formation which sets in below ∼105 K. In this work, we use polarized light microscopy to acquire images of the tetragonal domains in the same group of LAO/STO samples. We looked at the configuration of the domains (orientation and spacing) and followed their behavior as a function of temperature and back-gate voltage. The optical data agrees with the electrical behavior mapped magnetically. This direct and independent study of the domain structure confirms that the channel-like conductivity in LAO/STO is due to the STO tetragonal domain structure and emphasizes the importance of STO physics to the interfacial properties. These results demonstrate how small structural changes in perovskite crystals strongly influence the electronic characteristics of heterostructures.

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