Tunable electronic and magnetic phases in layered ruthenates: Strained SrRuO3-SrTiO3 heterostructures

Abstract

© 2022 American Physical Society. Layered ruthenates are a unique class of systems which manifest a variety of electronic and magnetic features from competing energy scales. At the heart of such features lies multi-orbital physics, especially orbital-selective behavior. Here, we propose that the SrRuO3-SrTiO3 heterostructure is a highly tunable platform to obtain the various emergent properties. Employing the density functional theory plus dynamical mean-field theory, we thoroughly investigate the orbital-dependent physics of the system and identify the competing magnetic fluctuations. We show that the epitaxial strain drives the system towards multi-orbital or orbital selective Mott phases from the Hund metal regime. At the same time, the two different types of static magnetism, ferromagnetism and checkerboard antiferromagnetism, are stabilized from the competition with the spin-density wave instability.