Strain Engineering of van Hove Singularity and Coupled Itinerant Ferromagnetism in Quasi-2D Oxide Superlattices

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how epitaxial strain engineering in quasi-2D oxide superlattices can control van Hove singularities and induce coupled insulator-metal and ferromagnetic phase transitions, revealing new pathways for quantum phase manipulation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using strain engineering to modulate van Hove singularities and magnetic phases in quasi-2D oxide superlattices, which was not achieved in bulk 3D systems.

Findings

Strain-induced insulator-metal transition in quasi-2D SrRuO3 superlattices.

Modulation of van Hove singularities by epitaxial strain affecting electronic and magnetic states.

Observation of anomalous Hall effect and ferromagnetic magnetoresistance indicating coupled charge and spin phenomena.

Abstract

Engineering van Hove singularities (vHss) near the Fermi level, if feasible, offers a powerful route to control exotic quantum phases in electronic and magnetic behaviors. However, conventional approaches, which rely primarily on chemical and electrical doping, focus mainly on local electrical or optical measurements, limiting their applicability to coupled functionalities. In this study, a vHs-induced insulator-metal transition coupled with a ferromagnetic phase transition was empirically achieved in atomically designed quasi-2D SrRuO3 (SRO) superlattices via epitaxial strain engineering, which has not been observed in conventional 3D SRO systems. Theoretical calculations revealed that epitaxial strain effectively modulates the strength and energy positions of vHs of specific Ru orbitals, driving correlated phase transitions in the electronic and magnetic ground states. X-ray absorption spectroscopy confirmed the anisotropic electronic structure of quasi-2D SRO modulated by epitaxial strain. Magneto-optic Kerr effect and electrical transport measurements demonstrated modulated magnetic and electronic phases. Furthermore, magneto-electrical measurements detected significant anomalous Hall effect signals and ferromagnetic magnetoresistance, indicating the presence of magnetically coupled charge carriers in the 2D metallic regime. This study establishes strain engineering as a promising platform for tuning vHss and resultant itinerant ferromagnetism of low-dimensional correlated quantum systems.