Oxygen vacancies and hydrogen doping in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures: electronic properties and impact on surface and interface reconstruction

We investigate the effect of oxygen vacancies and hydrogen dopants at the surface and inside slabs of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] heterostructures on the electronic properties by means of electronic structure calculations as based on density functional theory. Depending on the concentration, the presence of these defects in a [Formula: see text] slab can suppress the surface conductivity. In contrast, in insulating [Formula: see text] slabs already very small concentrations of oxygen vacancies or hydrogen dopant atoms induce a finite occupation of the conduction band. Surface defects in insulating [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] heterostructure slabs with three [Formula: see text] overlayers lead to the emergence of interface conductivity. Calculated defect formation energies reveal strong preference of hydrogen dopant atoms for surface sites for all structures and concentrations considered. Strong decrease of the defect formation energy of hydrogen adatoms with increasing thickness of the [Formula: see text] overlayer and crossover from positive to negative values, taken together with the metallic conductivity induced by hydrogen adatoms, seamlessly explains the semiconductor-metal transition observed for these heterostructures as a function of the overlayer thickness. Moreover, we show that the potential drop and concomitant shift of (layer resolved) band edges is suppressed for the metallic configuration. Finally, magnetism with stable local moments, which form atomically thin magnetic layers at the interface, is generated by oxygen vacancies either at the surface or the interface, or by hydrogen atoms buried at the interface. In particular, oxygen vacancies in the [Formula: see text] interface layer cause drastic downshift of the 3d e _g states of the Ti atoms neighboring the vacancies, giving rise to strongly localized magnetic moments, which add to the two-dimensional background magnetization.

Electronic properties of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 n-type interfaces: a GGA+U study

The role of electronic correlation effects for a realistic description of the electronic properties of [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] heterostructures as covered by the on-site Coulomb repulsion within the GGA+U approach is investigated. Performing a systematic variation of the values of the Coulomb parameters applied to the Ti 3d and La 4f orbitals we put previous suggestions to include a large value for the La 4f states into perspective. Furthermore, our calculations provide deeper insight into the band gap landscape in the space spanned by these Coulomb parameters and the resulting complex interference effects. In addition, we identify important correlations between the local Coulomb interaction within the La 4f shell, the band gap, and the atomic displacements at the interface. In particular, these on-site Coulomb interactions influence buckling within the LaO interface layer, which via its strong coupling to the electrostatic potential in the LAO overlayer causes considerable shifts of the electronic states at the surface and eventually controls the band gap.

VO2: a novel view from band theory

New calculations for vanadium dioxide, one of the most controversially discussed materials for decades, reveal that band theory as based on density functional theory is well capable of correctly describing the electronic and magnetic properties of the metallic as well as both the insulating M(1) and M(2) phases. Considerable progress in the understanding of the physics of VO(2) is achieved by the use of the recently developed hybrid functionals, which include part of the electron-electron interaction exactly and thereby improve on the weaknesses of semilocal exchange functionals as provided by the local density and generalized gradient approximations. Much better agreement with photoemission data as compared to previous calculations is found and a consistent description of the rutile-type early transition-metal dioxides is achieved.

Electronic structure and magnetic ordering of the semiconducting chromium trihalides CrCl3, CrBr3, and CrI3

We present results from an electronic structure investigation of the chromium halides CrCl(3), CrBr(3), and CrI(3), as obtained by the linearized augmented plane wave method of density functional theory. Our interest focuses on the chloride. While all three halides display strong ferromagnetic coupling within the halide-Cr-halide triple layers, our emphasis is on differences in the interlayer magnetic coupling. In agreement with experimental results, our calculations indicate ferromagnetic ordering for CrBr(3) as well as CrI(3). The antiferromagnetic state of CrCl(3) can be reproduced by introducing an on-site electron-electron repulsion. However, we observe that the ground state depends critically on the specific approach used. Our results show that a low temperature structural phase transition from monoclinic to trigonal is energetically favourable for CrCl(3).

A First-Principles Investigation of the Electronic Structure of Trivalent Rare Earth Ions in Gallium Nitride

Using first-principles electronic structure methods, we have investigated the electronic structure and associated properties of Pr3+, Nd3+, Eu3+, Tb3+, Dy3+ and Er3+ substituting for Ga3+ in GaN. It is found that these rare earth ions (RE3+) are stable at the Ga site in tetrahedral coordination with nitrogen atoms. The nitrogen ligands move away from the RE3+ site to allow for the large ionic radii of the RE3+ ions. The equilibrium bond lengths of RE–N are found to vary between 2.15 to 2.30Å in good agreement with structural data available for Eu3+, Tb3+ and Er3+. Using the calculated energy bands, excitation energies for the 4f→5d transition have also been predicted. Most of these energies are larger than the band gap of GaN and cannot be exploited in transferring host excitation energies to the RE3+ ions.

Evolution of quantum criticality in CeNi(9-x)Cu(x)Ge(4)

Crystal structure, specific heat, thermal expansion, magnetic susceptibility and electrical resistivity studies of the heavy fermion system CeNi(9-x)Cu(x)Ge(4) (0≤x≤1) reveal a continuous tuning of the ground state by Ni/Cu substitution from an effectively fourfold-degenerate non-magnetic Kondo ground state of CeNi(9)Ge(4) (with pronounced non-Fermi-liquid features) towards a magnetically ordered, effectively twofold-degenerate ground state in CeNi(8)CuGe(4) with T(N) = 175 ± 5 mK. Quantum critical behavior, [Formula: see text], is observed for [Formula: see text]. Hitherto, CeNi(9-x)Cu(x)Ge(4) represents the first system where a substitution-driven quantum phase transition is connected not only with changes of the relative strength of the Kondo effect and RKKY interaction, but also with a reduction of the effective crystal field ground state degeneracy.

Orbital ordering and spin-ladder formation in La2RuO5

The semiconductor-semiconductor transition of La2RuO5 is studied by means of augmented spherical wave electronic structure calculations as based on density-functional theory and the local density approximation. This transition has lately been reported to lead to orbital ordering and a quenching of the local spin magnetic moment. Our results hint towards an orbital ordering scenario which, markedly different from the previously proposed scheme, preserves the local S=1 moment at the Ru sites in the low-temperature phase. The unusual magnetic behavior is interpreted by the formation of spin ladders, which result from the structural changes occurring at the transition and are characterized by antiferromagnetic coupling along the rungs.

Prominent quasiparticle peak in the photoemission spectrum of the metallic phase of V2O3

We present the first observation of a prominent quasiparticle peak in the photoemission spectrum of the metallic phase of V2O3 and report new spectral calculations that combine the local-density approximation with the dynamical mean-field theory (using quantum Monte Carlo simulations) to show the development of such a distinct peak with decreasing temperature. The experimental peak width and weight are significantly larger than in the theory.

Mott-hubbard metal-insulator transition in paramagnetic V2O3: an LDA+DMFT(QMC) study

The electronic properties of paramagnetic V2O3 are investigated by the computational scheme LDA+DMFT(QMC). This approach merges the local density approximation (LDA) with dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) and uses quantum Monte Carlo simulations (QMC) to solve the effective Anderson impurity model of DMFT. Starting with the crystal structure of metallic V2O3 and insulating (V0.962Cr0.038)2O3 we find a Mott-Hubbard transition at a Coulomb interaction U approximately 5 eV. The calculated spectrum is in very good agreement with experiment. Furthermore, the orbital occupation and the spin state S = 1 determined by us agree with recent polarization dependent x-ray-absorption experiments.