Symmetry breaking is a fundamental concept in condensed matter physics whose presence often heralds new phases of matter. For instance, the breaking of time reversal symmetry is traditionally linked to magnetic phases in a material, while the breaking of gauge symmetry can lead to superfluidity/superconductivity. Nematic phases are phases in which rotational symmetry is broken while maintaining translational symme- try, and are traditionally associated with liquid crystals. Electronic nematic states where the or- thogonal in-plane crystal directions have different electronic properties have garnered a great deal of attention after their discovery in Sr3Ru2O7, multiple iron based superconductors, and in the superconducting state of CuBiSe. Here we demonstrate the existence of an electronic ne- matic phase in the two-dimensional carrier gas that forms at the (111) LaAlO3 (LAO)/SrTiO3 (STO) interface that onsets at low temperatures, and is tunable by an electric field.
@article{arxiv.1708.04809,
title = {Signatures of Electronic Nematicity in (111) LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ Interfaces},
author = {S. Davis and Z. Huang and K. Han and Ariando and T. Venkatesan and V. Chandrasekhar},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1708.04809},
year = {2018}
}