Creating emergent phenomena in oxide superlattices
Source abstract
Abstract
Complex oxides are record holder materials for many phenomena, including ferroelectricity, piezoelectricity, superconductivity and multiferroicity. Complex oxides often have competing ground states with energies slightly higher than that of the true ground state. This competition is fortuitous because thermodynamic variables (for example, temperature, electric field, magnetic field, stress and chemical potentials) can access these metastable phases that are usually hidden but emerge as the energetic landscape is reshaped by adjusting the thermodynamic variables. Epitaxial superlattices are a platform for imposing thermodynamic boundary conditions to unleash the properties of hidden phases by altering the delicate balance between competing spin, charge, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom. Additionally, a feature of complex oxides with large responses (large property coefficients) is the coexistence of phases on the nanoscale. New phases can emerge at the heterointerfaces of oxide superlattices, and X-ray, electron, neutron and proximal probes as well as ab initio theoretical studies can provide insights into these emergent phenomena. Oxide superlattices reveal emergent phenomena if the balance between competing degrees of freedom is altered. In this Review, synthetic approaches to tap the properties of competing ground states are described, focusing on two examples — one example yielding a room-temperature multiferroic and a second producing polarization skyrmions.
Source: openaire · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Multiferroics and related materials · Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials · Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (100+)
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