Charge transfer and competing symmetry breaking drive orbital reconstruction and emergent ferromagnetism in…

Abstract

Electron correlation, hopping, and ligand-to-metal charge transfer collectively lead to diverse electronic and magnetic phenomena in 3d transition-metal oxides, where directional d orbitals make hopping highly sensitive to symmetry-dependent orbital overlap. Heterostructure engineering with atomically flat interfaces adds symmetry-breaking charge transfer as a further route to emergent behavior, yet whether interfacial mismatch between constituent oxides of a superlattice shapes ground states independent of epitaxial strain remains unresolved. Here we examine superlattices combining NdNiO₃ with Mott-insulating NdMnO₃. Varying layer thickness and combining transport with X-ray spectroscopy, we show that electron transfer from NdMnO₃ to NdNiO₃ drives a room-temperature insulating state with a distinct electronic structure, accompanied by a reversal in orbital symmetry beyond simple strain considerations, underscoring the interface's central role. These reconstructions stabilize an emergent ferromagnetic insulating state arising from interfacial Ni²⁺-O-Mn⁴⁺ superexchange. Our results establish a pathway to interface-engineered ferromagnetic insulating phases via competing interactions, with potential for spin-insulatronic applications.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{bhattacharya2026charge,
  title = {{Charge transfer and competing symmetry breaking drive orbital reconstruction and emergent ferromagnetism in insulating oxide superlattices}},
  author = {Nandana Bhattacharya and Ranjan Kumar Patel and Siddharth Kumar and Sourav Chowdhury and Manav Beniwal and Suresh Chandra Joshi and Prithwijit Mandal and Jayjit Kumar Dey and Weibin Li and Manuel Valvidares and Zhan Zhang and Hua Zhou and Andrei Gloskovskii and Christoph Schlueter and Christoph Klewe and Srimanta Middey},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.28107},
  eprint = {2608.28107},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.28107},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Charge transfer and competing symmetry breaking drive orbital reconstruction and emergent ferromagnetism in insulating oxide superlattices
AU  - Nandana Bhattacharya
AU  - Ranjan Kumar Patel
AU  - Siddharth Kumar
AU  - Sourav Chowdhury
AU  - Manav Beniwal
AU  - Suresh Chandra Joshi
AU  - Prithwijit Mandal
AU  - Jayjit Kumar Dey
AU  - Weibin Li
AU  - Manuel Valvidares
AU  - Zhan Zhang
AU  - Hua Zhou
AU  - Andrei Gloskovskii
AU  - Christoph Schlueter
AU  - Christoph Klewe
AU  - Srimanta Middey
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/28
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.28107
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.28107
AB  - Electron correlation, hopping, and ligand-to-metal charge transfer collectively lead to diverse electronic and magnetic phenomena in 3d transition-metal oxides, where directional d orbitals make hopping highly sensitive to symmetry-dependent orbital overlap. Heterostructure engineering with atomically flat interfaces adds symmetry-breaking charge transfer as a further route to emergent behavior, yet whether interfacial mismatch between constituent oxides of a superlattice shapes ground states independent of epitaxial strain remains unresolved. Here we examine superlattices combining NdNiO_3 with Mott-insulating NdMnO_3. Varying layer thickness and combining transport with X-ray spectroscopy, we show that electron transfer from NdMnO_3 to NdNiO_3 drives a room-temperature insulating state with a distinct electronic structure, accompanied by a reversal in orbital symmetry beyond simple strain considerations, underscoring the interface's central role. These reconstructions stabilize an emergent ferromagnetic insulating state arising from interfacial Ni^2+-O-Mn^4+ superexchange. Our results establish a pathway to interface-engineered ferromagnetic insulating phases via competing interactions, with potential for spin-insulatronic applications.
ER  -

Abstract

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