# Magnetic and electronic properties at the gamma-Al2O3/SrTiO3 interface

## TL;DR

This study investigates the magnetic and electronic properties of the gamma-Al2O3/SrTiO3 interface using x-ray spectroscopy, revealing localized Ti3+ magnetic moments and contrasting behaviors with other oxide interfaces.

## Contribution

It provides new insights into the magnetic and electronic structure of gamma-Al2O3/SrTiO3 interfaces, highlighting differences from well-studied LaAlO3/SrTiO3 systems.

## Key findings

- Localized Ti3+ magnetic moments detected
- Out-of-plane dxz/dyz states identified
- Magnetic behavior is paramagnetic at low temperatures

## Abstract

The magnetic and electronic nature of the gamma-Al2O3/SrTiO3 spinel/perovskite interface is explored by means of x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Polarized x-ray techniques combined with atomic multiplet calculations reveal localized magnetic moments assigned to Ti3+ at the interface with equivalent size for in- and out-of-plane magnetic field directions. Although magnetic fingerprints are revealed, the Ti3+ magnetism can be explained by a paramagnetic response at low temperature under applied magnetic fields. Modeling the x-ray linear dichroism results in a delta0 = 1.9 eV splitting between the t2g and eg states for the Ti4+ 3d0 orbitals. In addition these results indicate that the lowest energy states have the out-of-plane dxz/dyz symmetry. The isotropic magnetic moment behavior and the lowest energy dxz/dyz states are in contrast to the observations for the two-dimensional electron gas at the perovskite/perovskite interface of LaAlO3/SrTiO3, that exhibits an anisotropic magnetic dxy ground state.