Artificial two-dimensional polar metal at room temperature

Yanwei Cao; Zhen Wang; Se Young Park; Yakun Yuan; Xiaoran Liu; Sergey M. Nikitin; Hirofumi Akamatsu; M. Kareev; S. Middey; D. Meyers; P. Thompson; P. J. Ryan; Padraic Shafer; A. N'Diaye; E. Arenholz; Venkatraman Gopalan; Yimei Zhu; Karin M. Rabe; J. Chakhalian

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03964-9

Artificial two-dimensional polar metal at room temperature

Yanwei Cao, Zhen Wang, Se Young Park, Yakun Yuan, Xiaoran Liu, Sergey M. Nikitin, Hirofumi Akamatsu, M. Kareev, S. Middey, D. Meyers, P. Thompson, P. J. Ryan, Padraic Shafer, A. N'Diaye, E. Arenholz, Venkatraman Gopalan, Yimei Zhu, Karin M. Rabe, J. Chakhalian

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50 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Polar metals, commonly defined by the coexistence of polar crystal structure and metallicity, are thought to be scarce because the long-range electrostatic fields favoring the polar structure are expected to be fully screened by the conduction electrons of a metal. Moreover, reducing from three to two dimensions, it remains an open question whether a polar metal can exist. Here we report on the realization of a room temperature two-dimensional polar metal of the B-site type in tri-color (tri-layer) superlattices BaTiO₃/SrTiO₃/LaTiO₃. A combination of atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron energy-loss spectroscopy, optical second harmonic generation, electrical transport, and first-principles calculations have revealed the microscopic mechanisms of periodic electric polarization, charge distribution, and orbital symmetry. Our results provide a route to creating all-oxide artificial non-centrosymmetric quasi-Two-dimensional metals with exotic quantum states including coexisting ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, and superconducting phases.

Original language	English
Article number	1547
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	9
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03964-9
Publication status	Published - Dec 1 2018
Externally published	Yes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Chemistry(all)
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
Physics and Astronomy(all)

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10.1038/s41467-018-03964-9

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Cao, Y., Wang, Z., Park, S. Y., Yuan, Y., Liu, X., Nikitin, S. M., Akamatsu, H., Kareev, M., Middey, S., Meyers, D., Thompson, P., Ryan, P. J., Shafer, P., N'Diaye, A., Arenholz, E., Gopalan, V., Zhu, Y., Rabe, K. M., & Chakhalian, J. (2018). Artificial two-dimensional polar metal at room temperature. Nature communications, 9(1), [1547]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03964-9

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title = "Artificial two-dimensional polar metal at room temperature",

abstract = "Polar metals, commonly defined by the coexistence of polar crystal structure and metallicity, are thought to be scarce because the long-range electrostatic fields favoring the polar structure are expected to be fully screened by the conduction electrons of a metal. Moreover, reducing from three to two dimensions, it remains an open question whether a polar metal can exist. Here we report on the realization of a room temperature two-dimensional polar metal of the B-site type in tri-color (tri-layer) superlattices BaTiO3/SrTiO3/LaTiO3. A combination of atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron energy-loss spectroscopy, optical second harmonic generation, electrical transport, and first-principles calculations have revealed the microscopic mechanisms of periodic electric polarization, charge distribution, and orbital symmetry. Our results provide a route to creating all-oxide artificial non-centrosymmetric quasi-Two-dimensional metals with exotic quantum states including coexisting ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, and superconducting phases.",

author = "Yanwei Cao and Zhen Wang and Park, {Se Young} and Yakun Yuan and Xiaoran Liu and Nikitin, {Sergey M.} and Hirofumi Akamatsu and M. Kareev and S. Middey and D. Meyers and P. Thompson and Ryan, {P. J.} and Padraic Shafer and A. N'Diaye and E. Arenholz and Venkatraman Gopalan and Yimei Zhu and Rabe, {Karin M.} and J. Chakhalian",

note = "Funding Information: We acknowledge insightful discussions with S.W. Cheong, S.J. Lim, E.W. Plummer, J. Zhang, and H. Guo. J.C. is supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation EPiQS Initiative through grant no. GBMF4534. Y.C. is supported by the Pioneer Hundred Talents Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ningbo 3315 Innovation Team. Z.W. is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under grant no. DOE DE-SC0002136. Y.Z. and the electronic microscopic work at Brookhaven National Laboratory are supported by the US DOE Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division under contract DE-AC02-98CH10886. M.K. and X.L. are supported by the DOE/BES, under award number DE-SC0012375 for their synchrotron work at ALS. The work at Pennsylvania State University is supported by the DOE/BES, under award number DE-SC0012375 (Y.Y., S.N., H.A., and V.G.). The XMaS beamline at the ESRF is a mid-range facility supported by UK EPSRC. This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The first-principles calculations were performed on the Rutgers University Parallel Computer (RUPC) cluster and supported by the Office of Naval Research grant no. N00014-14-1-0613. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 The Author(s).",

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doi = "10.1038/s41467-018-03964-9",

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T1 - Artificial two-dimensional polar metal at room temperature

AU - Cao, Yanwei

AU - Wang, Zhen

AU - Park, Se Young

AU - Yuan, Yakun

AU - Liu, Xiaoran

AU - Nikitin, Sergey M.

AU - Akamatsu, Hirofumi

AU - Kareev, M.

AU - Middey, S.

AU - Meyers, D.

AU - Thompson, P.

AU - Ryan, P. J.

AU - Shafer, Padraic

AU - N'Diaye, A.

AU - Arenholz, E.

AU - Gopalan, Venkatraman

AU - Zhu, Yimei

AU - Rabe, Karin M.

AU - Chakhalian, J.

N1 - Funding Information: We acknowledge insightful discussions with S.W. Cheong, S.J. Lim, E.W. Plummer, J. Zhang, and H. Guo. J.C. is supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation EPiQS Initiative through grant no. GBMF4534. Y.C. is supported by the Pioneer Hundred Talents Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ningbo 3315 Innovation Team. Z.W. is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under grant no. DOE DE-SC0002136. Y.Z. and the electronic microscopic work at Brookhaven National Laboratory are supported by the US DOE Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division under contract DE-AC02-98CH10886. M.K. and X.L. are supported by the DOE/BES, under award number DE-SC0012375 for their synchrotron work at ALS. The work at Pennsylvania State University is supported by the DOE/BES, under award number DE-SC0012375 (Y.Y., S.N., H.A., and V.G.). The XMaS beamline at the ESRF is a mid-range facility supported by UK EPSRC. This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The first-principles calculations were performed on the Rutgers University Parallel Computer (RUPC) cluster and supported by the Office of Naval Research grant no. N00014-14-1-0613. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s).

PY - 2018/12/1

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N2 - Polar metals, commonly defined by the coexistence of polar crystal structure and metallicity, are thought to be scarce because the long-range electrostatic fields favoring the polar structure are expected to be fully screened by the conduction electrons of a metal. Moreover, reducing from three to two dimensions, it remains an open question whether a polar metal can exist. Here we report on the realization of a room temperature two-dimensional polar metal of the B-site type in tri-color (tri-layer) superlattices BaTiO3/SrTiO3/LaTiO3. A combination of atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron energy-loss spectroscopy, optical second harmonic generation, electrical transport, and first-principles calculations have revealed the microscopic mechanisms of periodic electric polarization, charge distribution, and orbital symmetry. Our results provide a route to creating all-oxide artificial non-centrosymmetric quasi-Two-dimensional metals with exotic quantum states including coexisting ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, and superconducting phases.

AB - Polar metals, commonly defined by the coexistence of polar crystal structure and metallicity, are thought to be scarce because the long-range electrostatic fields favoring the polar structure are expected to be fully screened by the conduction electrons of a metal. Moreover, reducing from three to two dimensions, it remains an open question whether a polar metal can exist. Here we report on the realization of a room temperature two-dimensional polar metal of the B-site type in tri-color (tri-layer) superlattices BaTiO3/SrTiO3/LaTiO3. A combination of atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron energy-loss spectroscopy, optical second harmonic generation, electrical transport, and first-principles calculations have revealed the microscopic mechanisms of periodic electric polarization, charge distribution, and orbital symmetry. Our results provide a route to creating all-oxide artificial non-centrosymmetric quasi-Two-dimensional metals with exotic quantum states including coexisting ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, and superconducting phases.

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Artificial two-dimensional polar metal at room temperature

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