Percolation of Ion-Irradiation-Induced Disorder in Complex Oxide Interfaces

TL;DR

This study visualizes and analyzes the percolation of disorder at a complex oxide interface during ion irradiation, revealing how disorder develops and propagates at high resolution, with implications for energy material design.

Contribution

It introduces in situ visualization of disorder percolation in oxide interfaces during ion irradiation, combining real-time imaging with structural and chemical analysis.

Findings

Disorder forms a network during initial ion irradiation stages

Progression to full disorder is systematically tracked

Defect mechanisms underlying percolation are identified

Abstract

Mastery of order-disorder processes in highly non-equilibrium nanostructured oxides has significant implications for the development of emerging energy technologies. However, we are presently limited in our ability to quantify and harness these processes at high spatial, chemical, and temporal resolution, particularly in extreme environments. Here we describe the percolation of disorder at the model oxide interface LaMnO$_3$ / SrTiO$_3$, which we visualize during in situ ion irradiation in the transmission electron microscope. We observe the formation of a network of disorder during the initial stages of ion irradiation and track the global progression of the system to full disorder. We couple these measurements with detailed structural and chemical probes, examining possible underlying defect mechanisms responsible for this unique percolative behavior.