Optical properties of LaNiO3 films tuned from compressive to tensile strain

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.102.155148
• Publication Date: 2020-10-30T20:05:58Z
• Authors: I. Ardizzone; M. Zingl; J. Teyssier; H. U. R. Strand; O. Peil; J. Fowlie; A. B. Georgescu; S. Catalano; N. Bachar; A. B. Kuzmenko; M. Gibert; J.-M. Triscone; A. Georges; D. van der Marel
• Keywords: 3104 Condensed Matter Physics; Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el); 530 Physics; 2504 Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials; FOS: Physical sciences; 10192 Physics Institute; ddc:500.2; 7. Clean energy; 01 natural sciences; info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/500.2; Condensed Matter - Other Condensed Matter; Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons; 0103 physical sciences; Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other)

Materials with strong electronic correlations host remarkable---and technologically relevant---phenomena such as magnetism, superconductivity, and metal-insulator transitions. Harnessing controlling these effects is a major challenge, on which key advances are being made through lattice strain engineering in thin films heterostructures, leveraging the complex interplay between structural degrees of freedom. Here we show that structure $\mathrm{La}\mathrm{Ni}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ can be tuned by means engineering. We use different substrates to induce compressive tensile biaxial epitaxial films. Our measurements reveal systematic changes optical spectrum function and, notably, an increase low-frequency free carrier weight applied. Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, this apparently counterintuitive effect due change orientation oxygen octahedra. The calculations also drastic under strain, associated Fermi surface Lifshitz transition. provide online applet explore effects. experimental value integrated spectral below 2 eV significantly (up factor 3) smaller than DFT results, indicating transfer from infrared energies above eV. suppression high together indicate correlation-induced band narrowing mass enhancement correlations. findings promising avenue for tuning control quantum materials employing