Interfacial magnetic reconstruction and emergent metallicity in oxide heterostructures
9 affiliations
- 1Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, China
- 2Materials Genome Institute, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
- 3Center for Transformative Science, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China
- 4Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- 5School of Materials Science and Engineering, Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo, China
- 6PSI Center for Photon Science, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland
- 7International Research Centre Magtop, Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
- 8CNR-SPIN, UOS Salerno, Salerno, Fisciano Italy
- 9Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Abstract
Interfaces between correlated oxides and strong spin–orbit coupled materials provide a fertile platform for emergent quantum phases, yet controlling these phases through interfacial magnetic reconstruction remains a major challenge. Here, we observe emergent metallicity in ultrathin SrIrO3/SrRuO3 heterostructures formed from insulating constituent layers, and this transition is closely associated with interfacial magnetic reconstruction. Combining transport, magnetometry, and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, supported by first-principles calculations, we show that finite spectral weight at the Fermi level and ferromagnetic signatures emerge in the heterostructures. Our calculations further suggest that a staggered Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction at the interface favors ferromagnetic order in SrRuO₃ and collinear antiferromagnetism in SrIrO₃, relative to the collinear and noncollinear antiferromagnetism in isolated ultrathin SrRuO₃ and SrIrO₃, respectively, providing a possible microscopic framework for the coupled magnetic and electronic reconstruction. Our findings identify interfacial magnetic interactions as a powerful tuning parameter for controlling correlated electronic phases in spin-orbit-coupled oxides, opening pathways toward the design of emergent quantum and topological states.
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BibTeX
@article{lu2026interfacial,
title = {{Interfacial magnetic reconstruction and emergent metallicity in oxide heterostructures}},
author = {Zengxing Lu and Jiatai Feng and Xuan Zheng and You-Guo Shi and Run-Wei Li and Nicholas C. Plumb and Carmine Autieri and Mario Cuoco and Zhiming Wang and Milan Radovic},
journal = {Communications Materials},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1038/s43246-026-01275-x},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-026-01275-x},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Interfacial magnetic reconstruction and emergent metallicity in oxide heterostructures
AU - Zengxing Lu
AU - Jiatai Feng
AU - Xuan Zheng
AU - You-Guo Shi
AU - Run-Wei Li
AU - Nicholas C. Plumb
AU - Carmine Autieri
AU - Mario Cuoco
AU - Zhiming Wang
AU - Milan Radovic
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/14
JO - Communications Materials
DO - 10.1038/s43246-026-01275-x
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-026-01275-x
AB - Interfaces between correlated oxides and strong spin–orbit coupled materials provide a fertile platform for emergent quantum phases, yet controlling these phases through interfacial magnetic reconstruction remains a major challenge. Here, we observe emergent metallicity in ultrathin SrIrO3/SrRuO3 heterostructures formed from insulating constituent layers, and this transition is closely associated with interfacial magnetic reconstruction. Combining transport, magnetometry, and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, supported by first-principles calculations, we show that finite spectral weight at the Fermi level and ferromagnetic signatures emerge in the heterostructures. Our calculations further suggest that a staggered Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction at the interface favors ferromagnetic order in SrRuO₃ and collinear antiferromagnetism in SrIrO₃, relative to the collinear and noncollinear antiferromagnetism in isolated ultrathin SrRuO₃ and SrIrO₃, respectively, providing a possible microscopic framework for the coupled magnetic and electronic reconstruction. Our findings identify interfacial magnetic interactions as a powerful tuning parameter for controlling correlated electronic phases in spin-orbit-coupled oxides, opening pathways toward the design of emergent quantum and topological states.
SN - 2662-4443
ER -