Interface-engineered hole doping in Sr2IrO4/LaNiO3 heterostructure

ORAL

Abstract

The relativistic Mott insulator Sr2IrO4 is known for the Jeff = 1/2 Mott insulating state which closely resembles the electronic structure of parent compounds of superconducting cuprates. Here, by means of interface engineering of the Sr2IrO4/LaNiO3 heterostructure, the hole-doped phase of Sr2IrO4 has been realized with a markedly higher doping level close to 10%. X-ray absorption studies at Ni L2 edge confirmed that 5d electrons from Ir sites are transferred onto Ni sites leading to the formation of a high spin Ni2+ state. Despite the large amount of doping, Sr2IrO4/LaNiO3 heterostructure shows a non-metallic behavior but a narrower band gap compared to the bulk Sr2IrO4. This implies strong electronic reconstruction at the interfaces. These findings highlight a powerful utility of interfaces to realize emerging electronic states of the Ruddlesden-Popper phases of Ir-based oxides.

*F. W. was supported by the Claud Lovelace Graduate Fellowship. Q. Z. and L. G. were supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of CAS and NNSF. M. K. and B. P. were supported by the DOE and J. C. acknowledged the support by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation EPiQS Initiative. This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

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Presenters

  • Fangdi Wen

    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick

Authors

  • Fangdi Wen

    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick

  • Xiaoran Liu

    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick

  • Qinghua Zhang

    • Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed-Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

  • Mikhail S Kareev

    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick

  • Banabir Pal

    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick

  • Yanwei Cao

    • Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • Key Laboratory of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Institute of Industrial Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
    • Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • Chinese Academy of Science

  • John William Freeland

    • Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory
    • Advanced Photon Source

  • Alpha N'Diaye

    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Advanced Light Source
    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

  • Padraic Shafer

    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Advanced Light Source

  • Elke Arenholz

    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Advanced Light Source

  • Lin Gu

    • Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed-Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

  • Jak Chakhalian

    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick