Engineering Unequal Antipolar Displacement in Ferromagnetic Layered Oxide Heterostructures.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41738579.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1002/adma.202513458 and PMC identifier 13003901.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Heterostructure engineering provides a versatile route for tailoring emergent functionalities that are often difficult to realize in single-phase materials. In this work, the focus is on superlattices composed of the insulating and ferromagnetic double perovskites La<sub>2</sub>NiMnO<sub>6</sub> and Sm<sub>2</sub>NiMnO<sub>6</sub>, which constitute an intriguing model system. These layered structures are predicted to feature unequal antipolar displacements of the La and Sm ions; when combined with odd periodicity stacking, this structural motif is expected to give rise to polar behavior. The respective superlattices are grown with atomic precision and display robust ferromagnetism, as confirmed by in-house magnetometry and synchrotron measurements. Scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with first-principles calculations confirms the presence of the predicted unequal antipolar displacements, paving the way for the realization of hybrid improper ferroelectricity in such oxide heterostructures.