Moiré engineering of electronic phenomena in correlated oxides

Xinzhong Chen, Xiaodong Fan, Lin Li, Nan Zhang, Zhijing Niu, Tengfei Guo, Suheng Xu, Han Xu, Dongli Wang, Huayang Zhang, A. S. McLeod, Zhenlin Luo, Qingyou Lu, Andrew J. Millis, D. N. Basov, Mengkun Liu, Changgan Zeng

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

41 Scopus citations

Abstract

Moiré engineering has recently emerged as an effective approach to control quantum phenomena in condensed matter systems1–6. In van der Waals heterostructures, moiré patterns can be formed by lattice misorientation between adjacent atomic layers, creating long-range electronic order. Moiré engineering has so far been executed solely in stacked van der Waals multilayers. Here we describe electronic moiré patterns in films of a prototypical magnetoresistive oxide, La0.67Sr0.33MnO3, epitaxially grown on LaAlO3 substrates. Using scanning probe nanoimaging, we observe microscopic moiré profiles attributed to the coexistence and interaction of two distinct incommensurate patterns of strain modulation within these films. The net effect is that both the electronic conductivity and ferromagnetism of La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 are modulated by periodic moiré textures extending over mesoscopic scales. Our work provides a potential route to achieving spatially patterned electronic textures on demand in strained epitaxial materials.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)631-635
Number of pages5
JournalNature Physics
Volume16
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Stony Brook University authors acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation under grant no. DMR-1904576. This work was partly supported by the RISE2 node of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute under NASA Cooperative Agreement 80NSSC19MO2015. USTC authors acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants nos 11974324, 11804326, U1832151, 11675179 and 51627901), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDC07010000), the National Key Research and Development Programme of China (grants nos 2017YFA0403600 and 2017YFA0402903), the Anhui Initiative in Quantum Information Technologies (grant no. AHY170000), Hefei Science Centre CAS (grant no. 2018HSC-UE014) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant no. WK2030040087). A.J.M. was supported by the Basic Energy Sciences programme of the Department of Energy under grant no. DE-SC 0012375. D.N.B. was supported by ARO under grant no. W911NF-17-1-0543. This work was partially carried out at the USTC Centre for Micro and Nanoscale Research and Fabrication.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Moiré engineering of electronic phenomena in correlated oxides'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this