Atomic structure of functional interfaces in Sr2 RuO4/Sr3 Ru2 O7 eutectic crystals

R. Ciancio*, H. Pettersson, J. Börjesson, S. Lopatin, R. Fittipaldi, A. Vecchione, S. Kittaka, Y. Maeno, S. Pace, E. Olsson

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sr2 RuO4/Sr3 Ru2 O7 eutectic system is investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high angle annular dark field scanning TEM (STEM). The Sr2 RuO4 / Sr3 Ru2 O7 lamellar structure allows studying tunneling and proximity effects between spin-triplet superconductor Sr2 RuO4 and metamagnetic normal metal Sr3 Ru2 O7. Our analyses reveal two typologies of interfaces within the eutectic: interfaces parallel to the growth direction are sharp and defect-free whereas interfaces perpendicular to the growth direction appear wavy and decorated with Ru precipitates. These results indicate that interfaces parallel to the growth direction are the best candidates for Sr2 RuO4 / Sr3 Ru2 O7 natural junctions to study the unusual superconductivity of Sr2 RuO4.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number142507
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume95
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
MHZ is supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 81500665 ). CDB is supported in part by the Southampton NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (IS-BRC-20004 ), UK. GT is supported in part by grants from the School of Medicine, University of Verona, Verona, Italy .

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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