Structural phase separation and electrical transport modulations in bilayers
Phys. Rev. B 113, 235308 – Published 12 June, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/fzj3-1ncl
Abstract
The interplay between electronic modification and lattice distortion is critical for understanding emergent phenomena in correlated oxide heterostructures. For the conventional interface fabricated on the substrates, a 3% lattice mismatch dominates the interfacial lattice distortion, thereby hindering the exploration of the coupling between crystal structure and transport property. Here, when the epitaxial strain is reduced to 2% by growing the bilayers on the substrates, the layers exhibit diffraction features consistent with the coexistence of two structural phases, labeled as and . This structural inhomogeneity could be attributed to the competing interlayer interactions between and . While the charge transfer that compensates the polar discontinuity results in the formation of oxygen vacancy in to expand its lattice, the interfacial redox reaction drives the oxygen migration from to with lattice shrinkage. Increasing the layer thickness reduces the lattice difference between and phases, suppressing the potential fluctuations near the conduction band minimum of and improving interfacial carrier mobility. Our findings provide new insights into the structural evolution at the interface, as well as the interlayer coupling between crystal structure and electrical transport across the correlated oxide heterostructure.