Effect of uniaxial strain on KTaO3 superconductivity

ORAL

Abstract

The pairing mechanism of superconductivity in oxide-based heterostructures has been a topic of enduring debate. Among the numerous proposed mechanisms, those connected to structural transitions have gained prominence. Oxides like undoped SrTiO3 and KTaO3 exhibit quantum paraelectric behavior, which can be manipulated towards ferroelectricity through various means such as electric fields, oxygen substitution, hydrostatic pressure, and strain. Several theoretical studies [1][2][3] propose a potential link between superconductivity and ferroelectricity in these emerging ferroelectrics [1]. To explore the potential correlation, we conduct transport experiments at millikelvin temperatures under applied uniaxial stress at the LaAlO3/KTaO3 interface. We compare our findings with strain-dependent studies of SrTiO3-based devices.



[1] S. E. Rowley, C. Enderlein, J. F. de Oliveira, D. A. Tompsett, E. Baggio Saitovitch, S. S. Saxena, and G. G. Lonzarich, Superconductivity in the vicinity of a ferroelectric quantum phase transition, (2018), arXiv:1801.08121 [cond-mat.supr-con].

[2] J. M. Edge, Y. Kedem, U. Aschauer, N. A. Spaldin, and A. V. Balatsky, Quantum critical origin of the superconducting dome in SrTiO3, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 247002 (2015).

[3] S. E. Rowley, L. J. Spalek, R. P. Smith, M. P. M. Dean, M. Itoh, J. F. Scott, G. G. Lonzarich, and S. S. Saxena, Ferroelectric quantum criticality, Nat. Phys. 10, 367 (2014).

* JL and PI acknowledge support from NSF DMR-2225888. The work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), under award number DE-FG02-06ER46327.

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Presenters

  • Sayanwita Biswas

    University of Pittsburgh

Authors

  • Sayanwita Biswas

    University of Pittsburgh

  • Muqing Yu

    University of Pittsburgh

  • Jieun Kim

    University of Wisconsin - Madison

  • Chang-Beom Eom

    University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA, University of wisconsin-madison, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA

  • Patrick Irvin

    University of Pittsburgh, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA

  • Jeremy Levy

    University of Pittsburgh, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA