Physics

Dr. Srimanta Middey
Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA

Periodic geometrical arrangement of the constituent atoms in a crystalline solid is the backbone of the material properties. The alternation of this atomic arrangement, by creating interface between two chemically, electronically and structurally dissimilar materials can be expected to result a set of many-body states, which are unattainable in the constituent bulk materials. As the strong intercoupling among spin, charge, orbital, lattice degrees of freedom in correlated oxides promote various fascinating collective phenomena (e.g. superconductivity, magnetism, ferroelectricity ...), the additional broken symmetries and frustrated couplings across the interface may give rise to a new horizon to novel electronic, magnetic and topological states. However, microscopic understanding of such interfacial properties is a grand challenge and it requires various advanced techniques. In this talk, I will illustrate the success in creating `new’ electronic states by growing transition metal oxide superlattices with unit cell precision. The implementation of synchrotron diffraction, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and resonant x-ray scattering experiments to elucidate the response of the underlying structures, spins, orbitals and charges due to this heterostructuring will be discussed. Additionally, I will briefly describe the prospect of such engineered heterointerfaces for energy harvesting and application as next generation materials for Mott electronics.