Charge Transfer in Iridate-Manganite Superlattices

Satoshi Okamoto*† , John Nichols†, Changhee Sohn†, So Yeun Kim‡§, Tae Won Noh‡§, and Ho Nyung Lee† 

† Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States

‡ Center for Correlated Electron Systems, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea

§ Department of Physics & Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea

Abstract

Charge transfer in superlattices consisting of SrIrO3 and SrMnO3 is investigated using density functional theory. Despite the nearly identical work function and nonpolar interfaces between SrIrO3 and SrMnO3, rather large charge transfer was experimentally reported at the interface between them. Here, we report a microscopic model that captures the mechanism behind this phenomenon, providing a qualitative understanding of the experimental observation. This leads to unique strain dependence of such charge transfer in iridate-manganite superlattices. The predicted behavior is consistently verified by experiment with soft X-ray and optical spectroscopy. Our work thus demonstrates a new route to control electronic states in nonpolar oxide heterostructures.

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http://pubs.acs.org.sci-hub.cc/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b04107