Orbital reconstruction at YBa2Cu3O7/La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 interfaces revealed by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

Transition metal oxide hetero-interfaces have been attracting great attention due to extraordinary phenomena not exhibited by either of the constituent materials alone. A particularly fascinating system is the ferromagnetic/superconducting heterostructure which has vast application in the area of spintronics. Recent studies on YBa2Cu3O7/La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 superlattices have revealed an extensive rearrangement of magnetic domain structure as well as a likely electronic orbital reconstruction at its interface. To testify whether orbital reconstruction is a general characteristics of the YBCO/ferromagnet heterostructures, we investigate YBa2Cu3O7/La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 multilayers grown by pulsed laser deposition. Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering at Cu L3-edge is used to address this issue as which is particularly sensitive to orbital excitations. By probing directly the angular dependence of 3d orbital excitation, we unambiguously reveal that Cu 3d3z2-r2 orbital is reconstructed to cre!
ate a molecular bond at the interface as the former strongly hybridizes with Mn 3d3z2-r2 orbital. The associated charge-transfer and modification of dynamic magnetic structure at Cu sites are also discussed in terms of proximity effect at the interface.

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