arXiv subjects

Keun-Yeol Park

Publications and source records attributed to Keun-Yeol Park.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Atomic ironing for conformal interfaces in freestanding oxide nanomembranes

Atomically well-defined interfaces are essential for realizing functional interlayer coupling in stacked and twisted oxide heterostructures, yet transferred freestanding oxides can develop structural inhomogeneities, including local curvatures, interfacial voids, and incomplete contacts with substrates. Here, we demonstrate that these transfer-induced structural disorders and imperfections evolve substantially and can be suppressed by post-transfer thermal treatments, yielding bulk-like crystalline freestanding oxide nanomembranes. Using freestanding SrTiO3 membranes as a model system, we report a systematic understanding of the role of "atomic ironing" and the associated evolution of lattice mosaicity, interfacial roughness, and optical bandgap. We further demonstrate atomically bonded conformal interfaces in twisted SrTiO3 heterostructures, highlighting the importance of post-transfer thermal processes. These results establish a synthetic strategy to restore the structural integrity and intrinsic bulk-like functionality of freestanding oxide nanomembranes, enabling stacked, twisted, and heterogeneously integrated oxide architectures with atomically well-defined interfaces for emerging quantum functionalities.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Optimization-Based Thickness Estimation and Depth-Resolved FIB-Induced Damage Characterization via Multislice Electron Ptychography

Quantitative electron microscopy requires accurate knowledge of specimen thickness because dynamical scattering strongly affects image contrast and diffraction intensities. In multislice electron ptychography (MEP), specimen thickness is a required input parameter to its forward model, yet the local thickness of a transmission electron microscope (TEM) lamella is often precisely what is unknown. Moreover, thickness is coupled to probe defocus and the number of slices, making its determination from the reconstruction itself nontrivial. Here, we assess whether joint Bayesian optimization of these parameters can provide a physically meaningful estimate of local thickness from four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) data. Applied to a wedge-shaped silicon lamella, the optimization reproduced similar local thickness variation measured by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), with a systematic offset of 10-17% relative to the EELS estimates. Using the optimized reconstruction parameters, depth-resolved MEP further separated the crystalline silicon interior from focused ion beam (FIB)-induced amorphous surface layers within the same reconstructed volume. Regions milled at final voltages of 2, 5, 8, and 30 kV yielded amorphous-layer thicknesses of 3.2, 5.0, 7.0, and 26.4 nm, respectively, increasing monotonically with milling voltage and agreeing reasonably with previous cross-sectional measurements. These results show that applying MEP coupled with Bayesian optimization on a single 4D-STEM dataset can provide both local thickness estimates and depth-resolved characterization of FIB-induced damage, offering a route toward more self-consistent, thickness-aware quantitative 4D-STEM analysis.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Three-Dimensional Imaging of High-Density Dislocation Networks and Their Interactions using Multislice Electron Ptychography

Development of novel devices often involve combining functional materials and substrates, each chosen for particular physical properties such as low-loss or thermal conductivity. This, however, can introduce a large lattice mismatch and high density of structural defects that may limit device performance and reliability by trapping charge or creating leakage pathways. Such is the case for integrating superconducting TiN with a low-loss sapphire substrate. Here we resolve and image the resulting misfit, screw, and threading dislocations in epitaxial TiN on sapphire using the depth-sectioning capabilities of multislice electron ptychography. We find misfit dislocations spaced ~1.6 nm apart and track out-of-plane crossings of misfit dislocations as well as their transitions to threading dislocations, details which are obscured in conventional defect-imaging methods. The ability to correlate specific dislocation types and their interactions in extremely small volumes and at high densities is valuable for understanding structure-property relations even in modern, scaled devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

High-Q superconducting microwave resonators using MBE titanium nitride

Using molecular beam epitaxy, we have realized thin films of titanium nitride (TiN) on c-plane sapphire that exhibit the lowest observed full-width at half maximum X-ray rocking curve width of 18 arcsec. Though the (111) oriented TiN exhibits an abrupt and crystalline interface with sapphire, for the first time we observe sub-surface defects in the sapphire substrate, which nucleate structural defects in the epitaxial TiN layer. Using quarter-wavelength coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonators in a 3 \textmu m/6 \textmu m/3 \textmu m gap/strip/gap lines in a hanger geometry, we find the internal quality factor of the TiN resonators to be $>10^{6}$ in the single-photon $\langle n \rangle \sim 1$ limit at 5.8 GHz and 10 mK, rising to $>20 \times 10^{6}$ at $\langle n \rangle \sim 10^{6}$. The results are of high interest for applications of superconducting TiN in several areas, and provide a path towards epitaxial Josephson junctions with crystalline barriers in the future for high coherence qubits.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Strain-tuned orbital-dependent electronic correlations in FeTe thin films

Iron chalcogenides exhibit rich phenomena which are governed by orbital-dependent electronic interactions and strong electronic correlation. In particular, many studies have explored orbital selectivity in FeTe through Se doping. Here, applying tensile strain to thin films allows us to precisely control the system without other impurities that may arise from chemical doping to investigate the emergent behaviors in FeTe. Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we observe a spectral weight transfer between $d_{\rm xy}$ and $d_{\rm z^{2}}$ orbitals, evidence of an orbital-selective Mott phase (OSMP). Beyond OSMP, we reveal hitherto unobserved strain-induced effects, distinct from chemical doping. The evolution of $d_{\rm xz}$ orbital demonstrates how electron hopping mechanism plays an important role in defining the electronic properties of the system. Our findings highlight a direct correlation between epitaxial strain and the evolution of electronic structures in FeTe.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Room temperature quantum emitters in van der Waals α-MoO3

Quantum emitters in solid-state materials are highly promising building blocks for quantum information processing and communication science. Recently, single-photon emission from van der Waals materials has been reported in transition metal dichalcogenides and hexagonal boron nitride, exhibiting the potential to realize photonic quantum technologies in two-dimensional materials. Here, we report the generation of room temperature single-photon emission from exfoliated and thermally annealed single crystals of van der Waals α-MoO3. The second-order correlation function measurement displays a clear photon antibunching, while the luminescence intensity exceeds 0.4 Mcts/s and remains stable under laser excitation. The theoretical calculation suggests that an oxygen vacancy defect is a possible candidate for the observed emitters. Together with photostability and brightness, quantum emitters in α-MoO3 provide a new avenue to realize photon-based quantum information science in van der Waals materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗