Structure, strain, and the ground state of the LaTiO3/LaAlO3 superlattice

Abstract

The first-principles density functional theory calculations have been performed to understand LaTiO3/ LaAlO3 superlattice. By taking into account of the structural distortions, U dependence, and the exchange correlation functional dependence, we show that the ferromagnetic spin and antiferro-orbital ordering is stabilized in the wide range of strains, which is notably different from the previous reports on the titanate systems. The ground-state spin and orbital configurations critically depend on the structural properties. Our results suggest a possible strain control of the magnetic property in transition-metal oxide heterostructures.