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  • Charge-Order-Induced Ferroe...
    Park, Se Young; Kumar, Anil; Rabe, Karin M.

    Physical review letters, 02/2017, Volume: 118, Issue: 8
    Journal Article

    In this paper, the structure and properties of the $1{\mathbin:}1$ superlattice of ${\mathrm{LaVO}}_{3}$ and ${\mathrm{SrVO}}_{3}$ are investigated with a first-principles density-functional-theory-plus-$U$ ($\mathrm{DFT}+U$) method. The lowest energy states are antiferromagnetic charge-ordered Mott-insulating phases. In one of these insulating phases, layered charge ordering combines with the layered La/Sr cation ordering to produce a polar structure with a large nonzero spontaneous polarization normal to the interfaces. This polarization, comparable to that of conventional ferroelectrics, is produced by electron transfer between the ${\mathrm{V}}^{3+}$ and ${\mathrm{V}}^{4+}$ layers. The energy of this normal-polarization state relative to the ground state is only 3 meV per vanadium. Under tensile strain, this energy difference can be further reduced, suggesting that the normal-polarization state can be induced by an electric field applied normal to the superlattice layers, yielding an antiferroelectric double-hysteresis loop. Finally, if the system does not switch back to the ground state on removal of the field, a ferroelectric-type hysteresis loop could be observed.