Coupling of electronic and structural degrees of freedom in vanadate superlattices

Heterostructuring provides different ways to manipulate the orbital degrees of freedom and to tailor orbital occupations in transition-metal oxides. However, the reliable prediction of these modifications remains a challenge. Here we present a detailed investigation of the relationship between the crystal and electronic structure in YVO3-LaAlO3 superlattices by combining ab initio theory, scanning transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. Density functional theory simulations including an on-site Coulomb repulsion term accurately predict the crystal structure and, in conjunction with x-ray diffraction, provide an explanation for the lifting of degeneracy of the vanadium dxz and dyz orbitals that was recently observed in this system. In addition, we unravel the combined effects of electronic confinement and octahedral connectivity by disentangling their impact from that of epitaxial strain. Our results demonstrate that the specific orientation of the substrate and the thickness of the YVO3 slabs in the multilayer can be utilized to reliably engineer orbital polarization.

Automated summary

The study investigates the relationship between crystal and electronic structure in YVO3-LaAlO3 superlattices using ab initio theory, scanning transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction, demonstrating how to reliably engineer orbital polarization.