Electronic Subband Reconfiguration in a d^0-Perovskite Induced by Strain-Driven Structural Transformations

LAUKHIN, V.; COPIE, O.; ROZENBERG, M.; WEHT, RUBEN; BOUZEHOUANE, K.; REYREN, N.; JACQUET, E.; BIBES, M.; BARTHÉLÉMY, A.; HERRANZ, G.

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2012 vol. 109 p. 66011 - 66015

0031-9007

It is well known that transport in lightly n-doped SrTiO3 involves light and heavy electron bands. We have found that upon application of moderate quasi-isotropic pressures, the relative positions of these subbands are changed by a few meV and, eventually, a band inversion occurs at ~1kbar. Such effects are, however, suppressed in the closely related KTaO3 perovskite. We show that the extremely subtle electronic reconfiguration in SrTiO3 is triggered by strain-induced structural transformations that are accompanied by remarkable mobility enhancements up to about Delta_mu/mu~300%. Our results provide a microscopic rationale for the recently discovered transport enhancement under strain and underscore the role of the internal structural degrees of freedom in the modulation of the perovskite electronic properties.