Ferroelectrically tunable magnetic skyrmions in ultrathin oxide heterostructures.

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected whirling spin texture. Their nanoscale dimensions, topologically protected stability and solitonic nature, together are promising for future spintronics applications. To translate these compelling features into practical spintronic devices, a key challenge lies in achieving effective control of skyrmion properties, such as size, density and thermodynamic stability.

Graphene analogue in (111)-oriented BaBiO bilayer heterostructures for topological electronics.

Topological electronics is a new field that uses topological charges as current-carrying degrees of freedom. For topological electronics applications, systems should host topologically distinct phases to control the topological domain boundary through which the topological charges can flow. Due to their multiple Dirac cones and the π-Berry phase of each Dirac cone, graphene-like electronic structures constitute an ideal platform for topological electronics; graphene can provide various topological phases when incorporated with large spin-orbit coupling and mass-gap tunability via symmetry-breaking.

Electronic-Reconstruction-Enhanced Tunneling Conductance at Terrace Edges of Ultrathin Oxide Films.

Quantum mechanical tunneling of electrons across ultrathin insulating oxide barriers has been studied extensively for decades due to its great potential in electronic-device applications. In the few-nanometers-thick epitaxial oxide films, atomic-scale structural imperfections, such as the ubiquitously existed one-unit-cell-high terrace edges, can dramatically affect the tunneling probability and device performance. However, the underlying physics has not been investigated adequately.

Charge and magnetic states of rutile TiO2 doped with Cr ions.

We observe that the electronic and magnetic properties of Cr-doped rutile TiO2 single crystals are highly dependent on growth conditions. The ferromagnetic component of magnetic susceptibility is observed to be enhanced for samples grown under oxygen-rich conditions. To understand the charge state of Cr dopants and their role in response to an external magnetic field, we carry out density functional theory calculations for Cr-doped rutile TiO2.