Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Interfaces between correlated oxides and strong spin–orbit coupled materials provide a fertile platform for emergent quantum phases, yet controlling these phases through interfacial magnetic reconstruction remains a major challenge. Here, we observe emergent metallicity in ultrathin SrIrO 3 /SrRuO 3 heterostructures formed from insulating constituent layers, and this transition is closely associated with interfacial magnetic reconstruction. Combining transport, magnetometry, and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, supported by first-principles calculations, we show that finite spectral weight at the Fermi level and ferromagnetic signatures emerge in the heterostructures. Our calculations further suggest that a staggered Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction at the interface favors ferromagnetic order in SrRuO₃ and collinear antiferromagnetism in SrIrO₃, relative to the collinear and noncollinear antiferromagnetism in isolated ultrathin SrRuO₃ and SrIrO₃, respectively, providing a possible microscopic framework for the coupled magnetic and electronic reconstruction. Our findings identify interfacial magnetic interactions as a powerful tuning parameter for controlling correlated electronic phases in spin-orbit-coupled oxides, opening pathways toward the design of emergent quantum and topological states.
Source: Communications Materials
Institutions: Shanghai University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo Institute of Industrial Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Institute of Physics, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, Paul Scherrer Institute, Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,690
Funders: European Commission, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Natural Science Foundation of Ningbo, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Awards: G1098139661, G1211141985, G1333284883, Chronicle of the Metal-Insulator Transition (COMIT):Engineering the Mott system, G2567962511, G2930990473, G2962966351, G2977913081, G3116038515, G3204896003, G4185301154, G442103306, G4676099714, G4683783318, Gate Tuneable Superconducting Quantum Electronics., G4955593499, G5443090575, G57182573, G5900418550, G6292792325, G6425390733, G6517272853, G743334170, G777498305, G8616677452, G985316710
OpenAlex ID: W4416417351