Tunable electronic and magnetic phases in layered ruthenates: SrRuO3-SrTiO3 heterostructure upon strain

TL;DR

This study explores how epitaxial strain in SrRuO3-SrTiO3 heterostructures can induce various electronic and magnetic phases, including orbital-selective Mott states and different magnetic orders, using advanced theoretical methods.

Contribution

It demonstrates the tunability of electronic and magnetic phases in layered ruthenates through strain, revealing new emergent properties and competing magnetic fluctuations.

Findings

Strain induces orbital-selective Mott phases.

Ferromagnetism and checkerboard antiferromagnetism are stabilized.

Competing magnetic fluctuations are identified.

Abstract

Layered ruthenates are a unique class of systems which manifests a variety of electronic and magnetic features emerged from competing energy scales. At the heart of such features lies the multi-orbital physics, especially, the orbital-selective behavior. Here, we propose that the SrRuO3-SrTiO3 heterostructure is a highly tunable platform to obtain the various emergent properties. Employing the density functional theory plus dynamical mean-field theory, we thoroughly investigate the orbital-dependent physics of the system and identify the competing magnetic fluctuations. We show that the epitaxial strain drives the system towards multi-orbital or orbital selective Mott phases from the Hund metal regime. At the same time, the two different types of static magnetism are stabilized, ferromagnetism and checkerboard antiferromagnetism, from the competition with the spin-density wave instability.