Discovery of a magnetic conductive interface in PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 /SrTiO3 heterostructures.

Emergent physical properties often arise at interfaces of complex oxide heterostructures due to the interplay between various degrees of freedom, especially those with polar discontinuities. It is desirable to explore if these structures may generate pure and controllable spin currents, which are needed to attain unmatched performance and energy efficiency in the next-generation spintronic devices. Here we report the emergence of a spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas (SP-2DEG) at the interface of two insulators, SrTiO3 and PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3. This SP-2DEG is strongly localized at the interfacial Ti atoms, due to the interplay between Coulomb interaction and band bending, and can be tuned by the ferroelectric polarization. Our findings open a door for engineering ferroelectric/insulator interfaces to create tunable ferroic orders for magnetoelectric device applications and provide opportunities for designing multiferroic materials in heterostructures.

Above 400-K robust perpendicular ferromagnetic phase in a topological insulator.

The quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) that emerges under broken time-reversal symmetry in topological insulators (TIs) exhibits many fascinating physical properties for potential applications in nanoelectronics and spintronics. However, in transition metal-doped TIs, the only experimentally demonstrated QAHE system to date, the QAHE is lost at practically relevant temperatures. This constraint is imposed by the relatively low Curie temperature (Tc) and inherent spin disorder associated with the random magnetic dopants. We demonstrate drastically enhanced Tc by exchange coupling TIs to Tm3Fe5O12, a high-Tc magnetic insulator with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Signatures showing that the TI surface states acquire robust ferromagnetism are revealed by distinct squared anomalous Hall hysteresis loops at 400 K. Point-contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy confirms that the TI surface is spin-polarized. The greatly enhanced Tc, absence of spin disorder, and perpendicular anisotropy are all essential to the occurrence of the QAHE at high temperatures.