Novel photo-conducting state and its perturbation by electrostatic fields in oxide-based two-dimensional electron gas

TL;DR

This study investigates the photo-conducting state and its perturbation by electrostatic fields in oxide-based two-dimensional electron gases, revealing distinct carrier dynamics and relaxation processes through combined experimental and theoretical approaches.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the non-equilibrium carriers and relaxation mechanisms in oxide heterostructures using combined UV illumination, electrostatic gating, and ab-initio calculations.

Findings

Photo-conducting state diminishes with stretched exponential relaxation.

Electrostatic gating recovery occurs in milliseconds.

Localized Ti 3dxy states lead to long carrier lifetimes.

Abstract

The two-carrier transport model as proposed for the two-dimensional electron gas formed at the interfaces of oxide heterostructures is investigated by means of a combined perturbation of near ultra-violet radiation and electrostatic field, applied both separately and simultaneously. Comparison of the photo-response of the prototype systems such as the band insulator LaAlO3 and Mott insulator LaTiO3 films on TiO2 terminated SrTiO3 show remarkably similarities. Two types of non-equilibrium carriers are generated in each system, having a signature of a particular type of perturbation characterized by distinctly different relaxation process. While, the photo-conducting state diminishes in a stretched exponential manner, with a temperature dependent activation energy varying from few tens of meV to ~ 1 to 2 meV on lowering the temperature, and a relaxation time of several hours, the recovery from electrostatic gating occurs in milli-seconds time scale. An attempt is also made to explain the experimental observations using the ab-initio density functional calculations. The calculations show that the electronic transitions associated with near ultra-violet radiation emerge from bands located at ~ 2 eV above and below the Fermi energy, which are the Ti 3d states of the SrTiO3 substrate, and that from the AlO2 (TiO2) layers of the LaAlO3 (LaTiO3) films, respectively. The slow decay of the photo-current to the unperturbed state is explained in terms of the closely spaced Ti 3dxy states in the lower conduction band, which are manifested as flat bands (or localized states) in the band structure. Such localization leads to increased carrier life-times, through the energy-time relationship of the uncertainty principle.