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Duality and degeneracy lifting in two-dimensional electron liquids on SrTiO3(001)

Sokolović, Igor ; Guedes, Eduardo B. ; van Waas, Thomas P. ; Guo, Fei ; Poncé, Samuel ; Polley, Craig LU ; Schmid, Michael ; Diebold, Ulrike ; Radović, Milan and Setvín, Martin , et al. (2025) In Nature Communications 16(1).
Abstract

Two-dimensional electron liquids (2DELs) have increasing technological relevance for ultrafast electronics and spintronics, yet significant gaps in their fundamental understanding are exemplified on the prototypical SrTiO3. We correlate the exact SrTiO3(001) surface structure with distinct 2DELs through combined microscopic angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and non-contact atomic force microscopy on truly bulk-terminated surfaces that alleviate structural uncertainties inherent to this long-studied system. The SrO termination is shown to develop a 2DEL following the creation of oxygen vacancies, unlike the intrinsically metallic TiO2 termination. Differences in degeneracy of the 2DELs, with... (More)

Two-dimensional electron liquids (2DELs) have increasing technological relevance for ultrafast electronics and spintronics, yet significant gaps in their fundamental understanding are exemplified on the prototypical SrTiO3. We correlate the exact SrTiO3(001) surface structure with distinct 2DELs through combined microscopic angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and non-contact atomic force microscopy on truly bulk-terminated surfaces that alleviate structural uncertainties inherent to this long-studied system. The SrO termination is shown to develop a 2DEL following the creation of oxygen vacancies, unlike the intrinsically metallic TiO2 termination. Differences in degeneracy of the 2DELs, with nearly the same band filling and identical band bending, are assigned to polar distortions of the Ti atoms in combination with spin order, supported with the extraction of fundamental electron-phonon coupling strength. These results not only resolve the ambiguities regarding 2DELs on SrTiO3 thus far, but also pave the way to manipulating band filling and spin order in oxide 2DELs in general.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Communications
volume
16
issue
1
article number
4594
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:105005432828
  • pmid:40382310
ISSN
2041-1723
DOI
10.1038/s41467-025-59258-4
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0ba17012-3a34-4179-a14a-e0d31e7a8daa
date added to LUP
2025-07-14 12:14:44
date last changed
2025-07-15 03:00:04
@article{0ba17012-3a34-4179-a14a-e0d31e7a8daa,
  abstract     = {{<p>Two-dimensional electron liquids (2DELs) have increasing technological relevance for ultrafast electronics and spintronics, yet significant gaps in their fundamental understanding are exemplified on the prototypical SrTiO<sub>3</sub>. We correlate the exact SrTiO<sub>3</sub>(001) surface structure with distinct 2DELs through combined microscopic angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and non-contact atomic force microscopy on truly bulk-terminated surfaces that alleviate structural uncertainties inherent to this long-studied system. The SrO termination is shown to develop a 2DEL following the creation of oxygen vacancies, unlike the intrinsically metallic TiO<sub>2</sub> termination. Differences in degeneracy of the 2DELs, with nearly the same band filling and identical band bending, are assigned to polar distortions of the Ti atoms in combination with spin order, supported with the extraction of fundamental electron-phonon coupling strength. These results not only resolve the ambiguities regarding 2DELs on SrTiO<sub>3</sub> thus far, but also pave the way to manipulating band filling and spin order in oxide 2DELs in general.</p>}},
  author       = {{Sokolović, Igor and Guedes, Eduardo B. and van Waas, Thomas P. and Guo, Fei and Poncé, Samuel and Polley, Craig and Schmid, Michael and Diebold, Ulrike and Radović, Milan and Setvín, Martin and Dil, J. Hugo}},
  issn         = {{2041-1723}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Communications}},
  title        = {{Duality and degeneracy lifting in two-dimensional electron liquids on SrTiO<sub>3</sub>(001)}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59258-4}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41467-025-59258-4}},
  volume       = {{16}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}