Large orbital polarization in nickelate-cuprate heterostructures by dimensional control of oxygen coordination

Zhaoliang Liao; Elizabeth Skoropata; J. W. Freeland; Er Jia Guo; Ryan Desautels; Xiang Gao; Changhee Sohn; Ankur Rastogi; T. Zac Ward; Tao Zou; Timothy Charlton; Michael R. Fitzsimmons; Ho Nyung Lee

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-08472-y

Large orbital polarization in nickelate-cuprate heterostructures by dimensional control of oxygen coordination

Zhaoliang Liao, Elizabeth Skoropata, J. W. Freeland, Er Jia Guo, Ryan Desautels, Xiang Gao, Changhee Sohn, Ankur Rastogi, T. Zac Ward, Tao Zou, Timothy Charlton, Michael R. Fitzsimmons, Ho Nyung Lee

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Abstract

Artificial heterostructures composed of dissimilar transition metal oxides provide unprecedented opportunities to create remarkable physical phenomena. Here, we report a means to deliberately control the orbital polarization in LaNiO ₃ (LNO) through interfacing with SrCuO ₂ (SCO), which has an infinite-layer structure for CuO ₂ . Dimensional control of SCO results in a planar-type (P–SCO) to chain-type (C–SCO) structure transition depending on the SCO thickness. This transition is exploited to induce either a NiO ₅ pyramidal or a NiO ₆ octahedral structure at the SCO/LNO interface. Consequently, a large change in the Ni d orbital occupation up to ~30% is achieved in P–SCO/LNO superlattices, whereas the Ni e _g orbital splitting is negligible in C–SCO/LNO superlattices. The engineered oxygen coordination triggers a metal-to-insulator transition in SCO/LNO superlattices. Our results demonstrate that interfacial oxygen coordination engineering provides an effective means to manipulate the orbital configuration and associated physical properties, paving a pathway towards the advancement of oxide electronics.

Original language	English
Article number	589
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	10
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08472-y
State	Published - Dec 1 2019

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. Use of the Advanced Photon Source, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. DOE, Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory, was supported by the U.S. DOE under Grant No. DEAC02-06CH11357. Part of XAS measurements and experimental assistance for thin film synthesis by E.G., R.D., T.Z., T.C. and M.R.F. were supported by the DOE, BES, Scientific User Facilities Division.

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Liao, Z., Skoropata, E., Freeland, J. W., Guo, E. J., Desautels, R., Gao, X., Sohn, C., Rastogi, A., Ward, T. Z., Zou, T., Charlton, T., Fitzsimmons, M. R., & Lee, H. N. (2019). Large orbital polarization in nickelate-cuprate heterostructures by dimensional control of oxygen coordination. Nature Communications, 10(1), Article 589. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08472-y

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title = "Large orbital polarization in nickelate-cuprate heterostructures by dimensional control of oxygen coordination",

abstract = " Artificial heterostructures composed of dissimilar transition metal oxides provide unprecedented opportunities to create remarkable physical phenomena. Here, we report a means to deliberately control the orbital polarization in LaNiO 3 (LNO) through interfacing with SrCuO 2 (SCO), which has an infinite-layer structure for CuO 2 . Dimensional control of SCO results in a planar-type (P–SCO) to chain-type (C–SCO) structure transition depending on the SCO thickness. This transition is exploited to induce either a NiO 5 pyramidal or a NiO 6 octahedral structure at the SCO/LNO interface. Consequently, a large change in the Ni d orbital occupation up to ~30% is achieved in P–SCO/LNO superlattices, whereas the Ni e g orbital splitting is negligible in C–SCO/LNO superlattices. The engineered oxygen coordination triggers a metal-to-insulator transition in SCO/LNO superlattices. Our results demonstrate that interfacial oxygen coordination engineering provides an effective means to manipulate the orbital configuration and associated physical properties, paving a pathway towards the advancement of oxide electronics.",

author = "Zhaoliang Liao and Elizabeth Skoropata and Freeland, {J. W.} and Guo, {Er Jia} and Ryan Desautels and Xiang Gao and Changhee Sohn and Ankur Rastogi and Ward, {T. Zac} and Tao Zou and Timothy Charlton and Fitzsimmons, {Michael R.} and Lee, {Ho Nyung}",

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AU - Gao, Xiang

AU - Sohn, Changhee

AU - Rastogi, Ankur

AU - Ward, T. Zac

AU - Zou, Tao

AU - Charlton, Timothy

AU - Fitzsimmons, Michael R.

AU - Lee, Ho Nyung

PY - 2019/12/1

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N2 - Artificial heterostructures composed of dissimilar transition metal oxides provide unprecedented opportunities to create remarkable physical phenomena. Here, we report a means to deliberately control the orbital polarization in LaNiO 3 (LNO) through interfacing with SrCuO 2 (SCO), which has an infinite-layer structure for CuO 2 . Dimensional control of SCO results in a planar-type (P–SCO) to chain-type (C–SCO) structure transition depending on the SCO thickness. This transition is exploited to induce either a NiO 5 pyramidal or a NiO 6 octahedral structure at the SCO/LNO interface. Consequently, a large change in the Ni d orbital occupation up to ~30% is achieved in P–SCO/LNO superlattices, whereas the Ni e g orbital splitting is negligible in C–SCO/LNO superlattices. The engineered oxygen coordination triggers a metal-to-insulator transition in SCO/LNO superlattices. Our results demonstrate that interfacial oxygen coordination engineering provides an effective means to manipulate the orbital configuration and associated physical properties, paving a pathway towards the advancement of oxide electronics.

AB - Artificial heterostructures composed of dissimilar transition metal oxides provide unprecedented opportunities to create remarkable physical phenomena. Here, we report a means to deliberately control the orbital polarization in LaNiO 3 (LNO) through interfacing with SrCuO 2 (SCO), which has an infinite-layer structure for CuO 2 . Dimensional control of SCO results in a planar-type (P–SCO) to chain-type (C–SCO) structure transition depending on the SCO thickness. This transition is exploited to induce either a NiO 5 pyramidal or a NiO 6 octahedral structure at the SCO/LNO interface. Consequently, a large change in the Ni d orbital occupation up to ~30% is achieved in P–SCO/LNO superlattices, whereas the Ni e g orbital splitting is negligible in C–SCO/LNO superlattices. The engineered oxygen coordination triggers a metal-to-insulator transition in SCO/LNO superlattices. Our results demonstrate that interfacial oxygen coordination engineering provides an effective means to manipulate the orbital configuration and associated physical properties, paving a pathway towards the advancement of oxide electronics.

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Large orbital polarization in nickelate-cuprate heterostructures by dimensional control of oxygen coordination

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