arXiv subjects

Shahal Ilani

Publications and source records attributed to Shahal Ilani.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Nanoscale Phenomena in Oxide Heterostructures

Recent advances in creating complex oxide heterostructures, interfaces formed between two different transition metal oxides, have heralded a new era of materials and physics research, enabling a uniquely diverse set of coexisting physical properties to be combined with an ever- increasing degree of experimental control. Already, these systems have exhibited such varied phenomena as superconductivity, magnetism, and ferroelasticity, all of which are gate-tunable, demonstrating their promise for fundamental discovery and technological innovation alike. To fully exploit this richness, it is necessary to understand and control the physics on the smallest scales, making the use of nanoscale probes essential. Using the prototypical LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interface as a guide, we explore the exciting developments in the physics of oxide-based heterostructures, with a focus on nanostructures and the nanoscale probes employed to unravel their complex behavior.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Realization of Pristine and Locally-Tunable One-Dimensional Electron Systems in Carbon Nanotubes

Recent years have seen the development of several experimental systems capable of tuning local parameters of quantum Hamiltonians. Examples include ultracold atoms, trapped ions, superconducting circuits, and photonic crystals. By design, these systems possess negligible disorder, granting them a high level of tunability. Conversely, electrons in conventional condensed matter systems exist inside an imperfect host material, subjecting them to uncontrollable, random disorder, which often destroys delicate correlated phases and precludes local tunability. The realization of a condensed matter system that is disorder-free and locally-tunable thus remains an outstanding challenge. Here, we demonstrate a new technique for deterministic creation of locally-tunable, ultra-low-disorder electron systems in carbon nanotubes suspended over circuits of unprecedented complexity. Using transport experiments we show that electrons can be localized at any position along the nanotube and that the confinement potential can be smoothly moved from location to location. Nearly perfect mirror symmetry of transport characteristics about the centre of the nanotube establishes the negligible effects of electronic disorder, thus allowing experiments in precision engineered one-dimensional potentials. We further demonstrate the ability to position multiple nanotubes at chosen separations, generalizing these devices to coupled one-dimensional systems. These new capabilities open the door to a broad spectrum of new experiments on electronics, mechanics, and spins in one dimension.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Local Electrostatic Imaging of Striped Domain Order in LaAlO3/SrTiO3

The emerging field of complex oxide interfaces is generically built on one of the most celebrated substrates - strontium titanate (SrTiO3). This material hosts a range of phenomena, including ferroelasticity, incipient ferroelectricity, and most puzzlingly, contested giant piezoelectricity. Although these properties may markedly influence the oxide interfaces, especially on microscopic length scales, the lack of local probes capable of studying such buried systems has left their effects largely unexplored. Here we use a scanning charge detector - a nanotube single-electron transistor - to noninvasively image the electrostatic landscape and local mechanical response in the prototypical LaAlO3/SrTiO3 system with unprecedented sensitivity. Our measurements reveal that on microscopic scales SrTiO3 exhibits large anomalous piezoelectricity with curious spatial dependence. Through electrostatic imaging we unravel the microscopic origin for this extrinsic piezoelectricity, demonstrating its direct, quantitative connection to the motion of locally ordered tetragonal domains under applied gate voltage. These domains create striped potential modulations that can markedly influence the two-dimensional electron system at the conducting interface. Our results have broad implications to all complex oxide interfaces built on SrTiO3 and demonstrate the importance of microscopic structure to the physics of electrons at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Real-Space Tailoring of the Electron-Phonon Coupling in Ultra-Clean Nanotube Mechanical Resonators

The coupling between electrons and phonons is at the heart of many fundamental phenomena in physics. In nature, this coupling is generally predetermined for both, molecules and solids. Tremendous advances have been made in controlling electrons and phonons in engineered nanosystems, yet, control over the coupling between these degrees of freedom is still widely lacking. Here, we use a new generation of carbon nanotube devices with movable ultra-clean single and double quantum dots embedded in a mechanical resonator to demonstrate the tailoring of the interactions between electronic and mechanical degrees of freedom on the nanoscale. Exploiting this tunable coupling, we directly image the spatial structure of phonon modes and probe their parity in real space. Most interestingly, we demonstrate selective coupling between individual mechanical modes and internal electronic degrees of freedom. Our results open new vistas for engineering bulk quantum phenomena in a controlled nanoscale setting and offer important new tools for entangling the electronic and mechanical degrees of freedom at the quantum level.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗