1D Zigzag Nanowires*

LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ exhibits electron pairing far outside of the superconducting state [1]. The superconducting state of LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ also exhibits an intrinsic 1D nature [2] which has been linked to ferroelastic domain structure in the SrTiO₃. We further explore the role of ferroelastic domain patterns on superconductivity by creating a series of “zig-zag” nanowire structures. We find that straight nanowires are comparatively more resistive, both in their normal and superconducting state, than channels that have a zig-zag structure. We discuss possible interplay between the charge degree of freedom and the structural domains and employ state-of-the-art phase-field modeling to simulate the relevant domain morphologies.

[1] G Cheng et al., Nature 521, 196 (2015)
[2] Y-Y. Pai et al., Physical Review Letters 120 (14), 147001 (2018).
[3] Y-Y. Pai et al., Reports on Progress in Physics 81 (3), 036503 (2018).