(001) in the ultrathin limit*

The observation of unconventional anomalous Hall effect in SrRuO₃ films on SrTiO₃ has been suggested as the signature for the existence of topologically non-trivial magnetic structures driven by Dzyaloshinskii – Moriya (DM) interaction [1,2]. However, experimental evidence for RuO₆ distortion, which should be directly correlated with DM interaction, is far from clear. We have carried out a study on the evolution of lattice structure and its relation to the magneto-transport properties of SrRuO₃ films with thickness in the ultra-thin limit (< 10 unit-cells) utilizing in-situ Low Energy Electron Diffraction, ex-situ High Resolution Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy and transport measurements. We discuss the lattice distortion effect on the Dzyaloshinskii – Moriya interaction in the system.

1. L. Wang, et al., Nature Materials, 17, 1087 (2018)
2. W. Wang, et al., Nature Materials, 18, 1054 (2019)