Electron Pairing and Nematicity in LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ Nanostructures

TL;DR

This study uncovers a direct link between electron pairing, nematicity, and Hall effects in nanoscale LAO/STO structures, revealing insights into the microscopic origins of unconventional electronic behaviors.

Contribution

It demonstrates the correlation between electron pairing, nematicity, and Hall effects in LAO/STO, providing new understanding of their microscopic mechanisms.

Findings

Electron pairing occurs without superconductivity in LAO/STO.

Electronic nematicity onset coincides with electron pairing transition.

Magnetic field changes correlate with depairing of electron pairs.

Abstract

Strongly correlated electronic systems exhibit a wealth of unconventional behavior stemming from strong electron-electron interactions. The LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ (LAO/STO) heterostructure supports rich and varied low-temperature transport characteristics including low-density superconductivity, and electron pairing without superconductivity for which the microscopic origins is still not understood. LAO/STO also exhibits inexplicable signatures of electronic nematicity via nonlinear and anomalous Hall effects. Nanoscale control over the conductivity of the LAO/STO interface enables mesoscopic experiments that can probe these effects and address their microscopic origins. Here we report a direct correlation between electron pairing without superconductivity, anomalous Hall effect and electronic nematicity in quasi-1D ballistic nanoscale LAO/STO Hall crosses. The characteristic magnetic field at which the Hall coefficient changes directly coincides with the depairing of non-superconducting pairs showing a strong correlation between the two distinct phenomena. Angle-dependent Hall measurements further reveal an onset of electronic nematicity that again coincides with the electron pairing transition, unveiling a rotational symmetry breaking due to the transition from paired to unpaired phases at the interface. The results presented here highlights the influence of preformed electron pairs on the transport properties of LAO/STO and provide evidence of the elusive pairing ''glue'' that gives rise to electron pairing in SrTiO$_3$-based systems.