Imaging Ferroelastic Domains in LAO/STO Nanostructures using Cryogenic PFM

ORAL

Abstract

LaAlO3 (LAO) and SrTiO3 (STO) nanostructures exhibit a wide range of interesting quantum phenomena, such as superconductivity and a tunable metal-insulator transition, which offers great promise for application toward quantum computation and quantum devices. The pairing "glue" responsible for superconductivity in STO is still debated. STO undergoes a structural phase transition at T=105 K, and there is evidence that ferroelastic domains strongly influence superconductivity in the LAO/STO heterostructures and nanostructures. We use piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), a non-destructive measurement technique, to spatially map the ferroelastic domain structure in conductive nanostructures created by conductive atomic force microscopy lithography. The experiments are performed below the structural phase transition, enabling a unique identification of ferroelastic domain structures with conductive patterns

* J.L. and P.I. acknowledge support from NSF DMR-2225888. J.P.K. acknowledges support from Chris Butler and the University of Pittsburgh. C.B.E acknowledges funding by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's EPiQS Initiative (grant GBMF9065) and a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (ONR N00014-20-1-2844). Transport measurement 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

  • James P Keller

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

Authors

  • James P Keller

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

  • Joe Albro

    Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA

  • Kyoungjun Lee

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