Carrier-controlled ferromagnetism in SrTiO3

TL;DR

This study reveals that SrTiO3 exhibits ferromagnetism at low temperatures, which coexists with superconductivity at high doping levels, and demonstrates that ferromagnetic properties depend on doping and quantum well thickness.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the coexistence and control of ferromagnetism and superconductivity in SrTiO3 through doping and heterostructure engineering.

Findings

Ferromagnetism observed in doped SrTiO3 and heterostructures.

Curie temperature increases with doping and quantum well thickness.

Ferromagnetic and superconducting phases coexist at high doping levels.

Abstract

Magnetotransport and superconducting properties are investigated for uniformly La-doped SrTiO3 films and GdTiO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures, respectively. GdTiO3/SrTiO3 interfaces exhibit a high-density two-dimensional electron gas on the SrTiO3-side of the interface, while for the SrTiO3 films carriers are provided by the dopant atoms. Both types of samples exhibit ferromagnetism at low temperatures, as evidenced by a hysteresis in the magnetoresistance. For the uniformly doped SrTiO3 films, the Curie temperature is found to increase with doping and to coexist with superconductivity for carrier concentrations on the high-density side of the superconducting dome. The Curie temperature of the GdTiO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures scales with the thickness of the SrTiO3 quantum well. The results are used to construct a stability diagram for the ferromagnetic and superconducting phases of SrTiO3.