Examples of single-crystal epitaxial thin films of a high entropy perovskite oxide are synthesized. Pulsed laser deposition is used to grow the configurationally disordered perovskite epitaxially on and MgO substrates. X-ray diffraction and scanning transmission electron microscopy demonstrate that the films are single phase with excellent crystallinity and atomically abrupt interfaces to the underlying substrates. Atomically resolved electron-energy-loss spectroscopy mapping shows a uniform and random distribution of all -site cations. The ability to stabilize perovskites with this level of configurational disorder offers new possibilities for designing materials from a much broader combinatorial cation pallet while providing a fresh avenue for fundamental studies in strongly correlated quantum materials where local disorder can play a critical role in determining macroscopic properties.
Strong Coulomb repulsion and spin–orbit coupling are known to give rise to exotic physical phenomena in transition metal oxides. Initial attempts to investigate systems, where both of these fundamental interactions are comparably strong, such as 3d and 5d complex oxide superlattices, have revealed properties that only slightly differ from the bulk ones of the constituent materials. Here we observe that the interfacial coupling between the 3d antiferromagnetic insulator SrMnO3 and the 5d paramagnetic metal SrIrO3 is enormously strong, yielding an anomalous Hall response as the result of charge transfer driven interfacial ferromagnetism. These findings show that low dimensional spin–orbit entangled 3d–5d interfaces provide an avenue to uncover technologically relevant physical phenomena unattainable in bulk materials.
A strain-induced change of the electrical conductivity by several orders of magnitude has been observed for ferromagnetic films. Tensile strain is found to drive the narrow-band metal highly insulating. Reversible strain applied using a piezoelectric substrate reveals huge resistance modulations including a giant piezoresistive gauge factor of 7000 at 300 K. Magnetization data recorded for statically and reversibly strained films show moderate changes. This indicates a rather weak strain response of the low-temperature Co spin state. We suggest that a strain-induced static Jahn-Teller–type deformation of the units may provide a localization mechanism that also has impact on electronic transport in the paramagnetic regime.
We report on the use of helium ion implantation to independently control the out-of-plane lattice constant in epitaxial thin films without changing the in-plane lattice constants. The process is reversible by a vacuum anneal. Resistance and magnetization measurements show that even a small increase in the out-of-plane lattice constant of less than 1% can shift the metal-insulator transition and Curie temperatures by more than . Unlike conventional epitaxy-based strain tuning methods which are constrained not only by the Poisson effect but by the limited set of available substrates, the present study shows that strain can be independently and continuously controlled along a single axis. This permits novel control over orbital populations through Jahn-Teller effects, as shown by Monte Carlo simulations on a double-exchange model. The ability to reversibly control a single lattice parameter substantially broadens the phase space for experimental exploration of predictive models and leads to new possibilities for control over materials’ functional properties.