We report the formation of a non-magnetic band insulator at the isopolar interface between the antiferromagnetic Mott-Hubbard insulator LaTiO3 and the antiferromagnetic charge transfer insulator LaFeO3. By density functional theory calculations, we find that the formation of this interface state is driven by the combination of O band alignment and crystal field splitting energy of the t2g and eg bands. As a result of these two driving forces, the Fe 3d bands rearrange and electrons are transferred from Ti to Fe. This picture is supported by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which confirms the rearrangement of the Fe 3d bands and reveals an unprecedented charge transfer up to 1.2+/-0.2 e-/interface unit cell in our LaTiO3/LaFeO3 heterostructures.
@article{arxiv.1411.1218,
title = {Electronic reconstruction at the isopolar LaTiO3/LaFeO3 interface: An x-ray photoemission and density functional theory study},
author = {J. E. Kleibeuker and Z. Zhong and H. Nishikawa and J. Gabel and A. Müller and F. Pfaff and M. Sing and K. Held and R. Claessen and G. Koster and G. Rijnders},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1411.1218},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. (2014). Supplemental material is available upon request