Orbital reflectometry

Details Orbital reflectometry Orbital reflectometry

2010-12-31

arxiv.org/abs/1101.0238v1

Nature Materials 11, 189-193 (2011)

Physics

Condensed Matter

Strongly Correlated Electrons

Scientific paper

The occupation of d-orbitals controls the magnitude and anisotropy of the inter-atomic electron transfer in transition metal oxides and hence exerts a key influence on their chemical bonding and physical properties. Atomic-scale modulations of the orbital occupation at surfaces and interfaces are believed to be responsible for massive variations of the magnetic and transport properties, but could thus far not be probed in a quantitative manner. Here we show that it is possible to derive quantitative, spatially resolved orbital polarization profiles from soft x-ray reflectivity data, without resorting to model calculations. We demonstrate that the method is sensitive enough to resolve differences of 3 % in the occupation of Ni e_g orbitals in adjacent atomic layers of a LaNiO3-LaAlO3 superlattice, in good agreement with ab-initio electronic-structure calculations. The possibility to quantitatively correlate theory and experiment on the atomic scale opens up many new perspectives for orbital physics in d-electron materials.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Orbital reflectometry does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Orbital reflectometry, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Orbital reflectometry will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-295965