Giant negative magnetoresistance driven by spin-orbit coupling at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface

Giant negative magnetoresistance driven by spin-orbit coupling at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface

Diez, M.
Rincon Vieira Lugarinho Monte, A.M.
Mattoni, G.
Cobanera, E.
Hyart, T.
Mulazimoglu, E.
Bovenzi, N.
Beenakker, C.W.J.
Caviglia, A.

Applied Sciences

QN/Quantum Nanoscience

2015-12-31

The LaAlO3=SrTiO3 interface hosts a two-dimensional electron system that is unusually sensitive to the application of an in-plane magnetic field. Low-temperature experiments have revealed a giant negative magnetoresistance (dropping by 70%), attributed to a magnetic-field induced transition between interacting phases of conduction electrons with Kondo-screened magnetic impurities. Here we report on experiments over a broad temperature range, showing the persistence of the magnetoresistance up to the 20 K range—indicative of a single-particle mechanism. Motivated by a striking correspondence between the temperature and carrier density dependence of our magnetoresistance measurements we propose an alternative explanation. Working in the framework of semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory we demonstrate that the combination of spin-orbit coupling and scattering from finite-range impurities can explain the observed magnitude of the negative magnetoresistance, as well as the temperature and electron density dependence.

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:47098e76-75f1-4339-ac0c-329f065e871b

American Physical Society

0031-9007

Physical Review Letters, 115 (1), 2015

Institutional Repository

journal article

(c) 2015 American Physical Society