Structural, Electronic and Magnetic Properties of a Few Nanometer-Thick Superconducting NdBa2Cu3O7 Films

@Article{ISI:000539577200220,
  author                     = {Moretti Sala, Marco and Salluzzo, Marco and Minola, Matteo and De Luca, Gabriella Maria and Dellea, Greta and Srot, Vesna and Wang, Yi and van Aken, Peter A. and Le Tacon, Matthieu and Keimer, Bernhard and Dallera, Claudia and Braicovich, Lucio and Ghiringhelli, Giacomo},
  journal                    = {{NANOMATERIALS}},
  title                      = {{Structural, Electronic and Magnetic Properties of a Few Nanometer-Thick Superconducting NdBa2Cu3O7 Films}},
  year                       = {{2020}},
  month                      = {{APR}},
  number                     = {{4}},
  volume                     = {{10}},
  abstract                   = {{Epitaxial films of high critical temperature (T-c) cuprate
   superconductors preserve their transport properties even when their
   thickness is reduced to a few nanometers. However, when approaching the
   single crystalline unit cell (u.c.) of thickness, T-c decreases and
   eventually, superconductivity is lost. Strain originating from the
   mismatch with the substrate, electronic reconstruction at the interface
   and alteration of the chemical composition and of doping can be the
   cause of such changes. Here, we use resonant inelastic x-ray scattering
   at the Cu L-3 edge to study the crystal field and spin excitations of
   NdBa2Cu3O7-x ultrathin films grown on SrTiO3, comparing 1, 2 and 80
   u.c.-thick samples. We find that even at extremely low thicknesses, the
   strength of the in-plane superexchange interaction is mostly preserved,
   with just a slight decrease in the 1 u.c. with respect to the 80
   u.c.-thick sample. We also observe spectroscopic signatures for a
   decrease of the hole-doping at low thickness, consistent with the
   expansion of the c-axis lattice parameter and oxygen deficiency in the
   chains of the first unit cell, determined by high-resolution
   transmission microscopy and x-ray diffraction.}},
  address                    = {{ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND}},
  affiliation                = {{Sala, MM; Ghiringhelli, G (Corresponding Author), Politecn Milan, Dipartimento Fis, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milan, Italy. Ghiringhelli, G (Corresponding Author), Politecn Milan, Dipartimento Fis, CNR, SPIN, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milan, Italy. Sala, Marco Moretti; Dellea, Greta; Dallera, Claudia; Braicovich, Lucio; Ghiringhelli, Giacomo, Politecn Milan, Dipartimento Fis, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milan, Italy. Salluzzo, Marco; De Luca, Gabriella Maria, CNR, SPIN, Complesso Monte St Angelo,Via Cinthia, I-80126 Naples, Italy. Minola, Matteo; Srot, Vesna; Wang, Yi; van Aken, Peter A.; Keimer, Bernhard, Max Planck Inst Festkorperforsch, Heisenbergstr 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany. De Luca, Gabriella Maria, Univ Napoli Federico II, Dipartimento Fis E Pancini, Complesso Monte St Angelo,Via Cinthia, I-80126 Naples, Italy. Le Tacon, Matthieu, Karlsruhe Inst Technol, Inst Quantum Mat & Technol, Hermann V Helmholtz Pl 1, D-76344 Eggenstein Leopoldshafen, Germany. Ghiringhelli, Giacomo, Politecn Milan, Dipartimento Fis, CNR, SPIN, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milan, Italy.}},
  article-number             = {{817}},
  author-email               = {{marco.moretti@polimi.it marco.salluzzo@spin.cnr.it m.minola@fkf.mpg.de gabriellamaria.deluca@unina.it greta.dellea@gmail.com V.Srot@fkf.mpg.de y.wang@fkf.mpg.de p.vanaken@fkf.mpg.de matthieu.tacon@kit.edu B.Keimer@fkf.mpg.de claudia.dallera@polimi.it lucio.braicovich@polimi.it giacomo.ghiringhelli@polimi.it}},
  da                         = {{2020-12-22}},
  doc-delivery-number        = {{LX1CP}},
  doi                        = {{10.3390/nano10040817}},
  eissn                      = {{2079-4991}},
  funding-acknowledgement    = {{project PRIN2017 ``Quantum-2D{''} of the Ministry for University and Research (MIUR) of Italy {[}2017Z8TS5B]; European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program {[}823717-ESTEEM3]}},
  funding-text               = {{RIXS data were collected at the beam line ADRESS of the Swiss Light Source at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) using the SAXES spectrometer jointly designed and built by the PSI and the Politecnico di Milano. M.M.S., C.D. and G.G. acknowledge support by project PRIN2017 ``Quantum-2D{''} ID 2017Z8TS5B of the Ministry for University and Research (MIUR) of Italy. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 823717-ESTEEM3.}},
  journal-iso                = {{Nanomaterials}},
  keywords                   = {{unit cell-thick films; superconductivity; resonant inelastic x-ray scattering}},
  keywords-plus              = {{HIGH-TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTIVITY; EXCITATIONS; CU}},
  language                   = {{English}},
  number-of-cited-references = {{31}},
  oa                         = {{DOAJ Gold, Green Published}},
  orcid-numbers              = {{, Le Tacon Matthieu/0000-0002-5838-3724 Ghiringhelli, Giacomo/0000-0003-0867-7748 Wang, Yi/0000-0002-6541-4584 van Aken, Peter A./0000-0003-1890-1256}},
  publisher                  = {{MDPI}},
  research-areas             = {{Science & Technology - Other Topics; Materials Science}},
  researcherid-numbers       = {{, Le Tacon Matthieu/D-8023-2011 Ghiringhelli, Giacomo/D-1159-2014 Wang, Yi/F-4910-2010 van Aken, Peter A./AAC-9287-2019}},
  times-cited                = {{0}},
  type                       = {{Article}},
  unique-id                  = {{ISI:000539577200220}},
  usage-count-last-180-days  = {{3}},
  usage-count-since-2013     = {{3}},
  web-of-science-categories  = {{Nanoscience & Nanotechnology; Materials Science, Multidisciplinary}},
}