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$RE$NiO$_3$ is a negative charge transfer energy system and exhibits a temperature-driven metal-insulator transition (MIT), which is also accompanied by a bond disproportionation (BD) transition. In order to explore how hole doping affects the BD transition, we have investigated the electronic structure of single-crystalline thin films of Nd$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$NiO$_3$ by synchrotron based experiments and {\it ab-initio} calculations. For a small value of $x$, we find that the doped holes are localized on one or more Ni sites around the dopant Ca$^{2+}$ ions, while the BD state for the rest of the lattice remains intact. The effective charge transfer energy ($\Delta$) increases with Ca concentration and the formation of BD phase is not favored above a critical $x$, suppressing the insulating phase. Our present study firmly demonstrates that the appearance of BD mode is essential for the MIT and settles a long-standing debate about the role of structural distortions for the MIT of the $RE$NiO$_3$ series., Comment: 4 Figures

One of the major puzzles in condensed matter physics has been the observation of a Mott-insulating state away from half-filling. The filling-controlled Mott insulator-metal transition, induced via charge-carrier doping, has been extensively researched, but its governing mechanisms have yet to be fully understood. Several theoretical proposals aimed to elucidate the nature of the transition have been put forth, a notable one being phase separation and an associated percolation-induced transition. In the present work, we study the prototypical doped Mott-insulating rare-earth titanate YTiO$_3$, in which the insulating state survives up to a large hole concentration of 35%. Single crystals of Y$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$TiO$_3$ with $0 \leq x \leq 0.5$, spanning the insulator-metal transition, are grown and investigated. Using x-ray absorption spectroscopy, a powerful technique capable of probing element-specific electronic states, we find that the primary effect of hole doping is to induce electronic phase separation into hole-rich and hole-poor regions. The data reveal the formation of electronic states within the Mott-Hubbard gap, near the Fermi level, which increase in spectral weight with increasing doping. From a comparison with DFT+$U$ calculations, we infer that the hole-poor and hole-rich components have charge densities that correspond to the Mott-insulating $x = 0$ and metallic $x \sim 0.5$ states, respectively, and that the new electronic states arise from the metallic component. Our results indicate that the hole-doping-induced insulator-metal transition in Y$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$TiO$_3$ is indeed percolative in nature, and thus of inherent first-order character., 15 pages, supplementary material included

We explore the magnetically-ordered ground state of the isovalently-substituted Mott-insulator Y$_{1-x}$La$_{x}$TiO$_{3}$ for $x$ $\leq$ 0.3 via single crystal growth, magnetometry, neutron diffraction, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), muon spin rotation ($\mu$SR) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). We find that the decrease in the magnetic transition temperature on approaching the ferromagnetic (FM) - antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase boundary at the La concentration $x_c$ $\approx$ 0.3 is accompanied by a strong suppression of both bulk and local ordered magnetic moments, along with a volume-wise separation into magnetically-ordered and paramagnetic regions. The thermal phase transition does not show conventional second-order behavior, since neither a clear signature of dynamic critical behavior nor a power-law divergence of the magnetic correlation length is found for the studied substitution range; this finding becomes increasingly obvious with substitution. Finally, from SANS and magnetometry measurements, we discern a crossover from easy-axis to easy-plane magneto-crystalline anisotropy with increasing La substitution. These results indicate complex changes in magnetic structure upon approaching the phase boundary., Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures

The Mott-insulating rare-earth titanates (RTiO$_3$, R being a rare-earth ion) are an important class of materials that encompasses interesting spin-orbital phases as well as ferromagnet-antiferromagnet and insulator-metal transitions. The growth of these materials has been plagued by difficulties related to overoxidation, which arises from a strong tendency of Ti$^{3+}$ to oxidize to Ti$^{4+}$. We describe our efforts to grow sizable single crystals of YTiO$_3$ and its La-substituted and Ca-doped variants with the optical travelling-solvent floating-zone technique. We present sample characterization $via$ chemical composition analysis, magnetometry, charge transport, neutron scattering, x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism to understand macroscopic physical property variations associated with overoxidation. Furthermore, we demonstrate a good signal-to-noise ratio in inelastic magnetic neutron scattering measurements of spin-wave excitations. A superconducting impurity phase, found to appear in Ca-doped samples at high doping levels, is identified as TiO.

The quantum spin liquid (QSL) is an exotic phase of magnetic materials where the spins continue to fluctuate without any symmetry breaking down to zero temperature. Among the handful reports of QSL with spin $S\ge$1, examples with magnetic ions on a three-dimensional magnetic lattice are extremely rare since both larger spin and higher dimension tend to suppress quantum fluctuations. In this work, we offer a new strategy to achieve 3-D QSL with high spin by utilizing two types of transition metal ions, both are magnetically active but located at crystallographically inequivalent positions. We design a 3-D magnetic system Ba$_3$NiIr$_2$O$_9$ consisting of interconnected corner shared NiO$_6$ octahedra and face shared Ir$_2$O$_9$ dimer, both having triangular arrangements in \textit{a-b} plane. X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements confirm the presence of Ni$^{2+}$ ($S$=1). Our detailed thermodynamic and magnetic measurements reveal that this compound is a realization of gapless QSL state down to at least 100 mK. Ab-initio calculations find a strong magnetic exchange between Ir and Ni sublattices and in-plane antiferromagnetic coupling between the dimers, resulting in dynamically fluctuating magnetic moments on both the Ir and Ni sublattice., Comment: 4 Figures

The discovery of superconductivity in a $d^{9-{\delta}}$ nickelate has inspired disparate theoretical perspectives regarding the essential physics of this class of materials. A key issue is the magnitude of the magnetic superexchange, which relates to whether cuprate-like high-temperature nickelate superconductivity could be realized. We address this question using Ni L-edge and O K-edge spectroscopy of the reduced trilayer nickelate $d^{9-1/3}$ La4Ni3O8 and associated theoretical modeling. A magnon energy scale of ~80 meV resulting from a nearest-neighbor magnetic exchange of $J = 69(4)4$ meV is observed, proving that $d^{9-{\delta}}$ nickelates can host a large superexchange. This value, along with that of the Ni-O hybridization estimated from our O K-edge data, implies that trilayer nickelates represent an intermediate case between the infinite-layer nickelates and the cuprates, and suggests that they represent a promising route towards higher-temperature nickelate superconductivity., Comment: 7 pages not including supplmentary material; To appear in Physical Review Letters

Ultrashort x-ray pulses can be used to disentangle magnetic and structural dynamics and are accordingly utilized here to study the photoexcitation of NdNiO$_3$ (NNO), a model nickelate exhibiting structural and magnetic dynamics that conspire to induce an IMT. During the course of the photoinduced insulator to metal transition (IMT) with above gap excitation, we observe an ultrafast ($, Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, major revision and title change from previous version

The discovery of superconductivity in a $d^{9-��}$ nickelate has inspired disparate theoretical perspectives regarding the essential physics of this class of materials. A key issue is the magnitude of the magnetic superexchange, which relates to whether cuprate-like high-temperature nickelate superconductivity could be realized. We address this question using Ni L-edge and O K-edge spectroscopy of the reduced trilayer nickelate $d^{9-1/3}$ La4Ni3O8 and associated theoretical modeling. A magnon energy scale of ~80 meV resulting from a nearest-neighbor magnetic exchange of $J = 69(4)4$ meV is observed, proving that $d^{9-��}$ nickelates can host a large superexchange. This value, along with that of the Ni-O hybridization estimated from our O K-edge data, implies that trilayer nickelates represent an intermediate case between the infinite-layer nickelates and the cuprates, and suggests that they represent a promising route towards higher-temperature nickelate superconductivity., 7 pages not including supplmentary material; To appear in Physical Review Letters

The relativistic Mott insulator Sr2IrO4 driven by large spin-orbit interaction is known for the Jeff = 1/2 antiferromagnetic state which closely resembles the electronic structure of parent compounds of superconducting cuprates. Here, we report the realization of hole-doped Sr2IrO4 by means of interfacial charge transfer in Sr2IrO4/LaNiO3 heterostructures. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy on Ir 4f edge along with the X-ray absorption spectroscopy at Ni L2 edge confirmed that 5d electrons from Ir sites are transferred onto Ni sites, leading to markedly electronic reconstruction at the interface. Although the Sr2IrO4/LaNiO3 heterostructure remains non-metallic, we reveal that the transport behavior is no longer described by the Mott variable range hopping mode, but by the Efros-Shklovskii model. These findings highlight a powerful utility of interfaces to realize emerging electronic states of the Ruddlesden-Popper phases of Ir-based oxides., 9 pages including 3 figures and references

On a lattice composed of triangular plaquettes where antiferromagnetic exchange interactions between localized spins cannot be simultaneously satisfied, the system becomes geometrically frustrated with magnetically disordered phases remarkably different from a simple paramagnet. Spin liquid belongs to one of these exotic states, in which a macroscopic degeneracy of the ground state gives rise to the rich spectrum of collective phenomena. Here, we report on the discovery of a new magnetic state in the heterostructures derived from a single unit cell (111)-oriented spinel CoCr2O4 sandwiched between nonmagnetic Al2O3 spacers. The artificial quasi-two-dimensional material composed of three triangle and one kagome atomic planes shows a degree of magnetic frustration which is almost two orders of magnitude enlarged compared to the bulk crystals. Combined resonant X-ray absorption and torque magnetometry measurements confirm that the designer system exhibits no sign of spin ordering down to 30 mK, implying a possible realization of a quantum spin liquid state in the two dimensional limit.

Samarium hexaboride is a topological Kondo insulator, with metallic surface states manifesting from its insulating band structure. Since the insulating bulk itself is driven by strong correlations, both the bulk and surface host compelling magnetic and electronic phenomena. We employed X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the Sm M$_{4,5}$ edges to measure surface and bulk magnetic properties of Sm$^{2+}$ and Sm$^{3+}$ within SmB$_6$. We observed anti-alignment to the applied field of the Sm$^{3+}$ magnetic dipole moment below $T = 75$ K and of the total orbital moment of samarium below 30 K. The induced Sm$^{3+}$ moment at the cleaved surface at 8 K and 6 T implies 1.5% of the total Sm as magnetized Sm$^{3+}$. The field dependence of the Sm$^{3+}$ XMCD dichorism at 8 K is diamagnetic and approximately linear. The bulk magnetization at 2 K is however driven by Sm$^{2+}$ Van Vleck susceptibility as well as 1% paramagnetic impurities with $\mu_{\rm Eff} = 5.2(1)~\mu_{\rm B}$. This indicates diamagnetic Sm$^{3+}$ is compensated within the bulk. The XAS and XMCD spectra are weakly affected by Sm vacancies and carbon doping while XAS is strongly affected by polishing.

High temperature cuprate superconductivity remains a defining problem in condensed matter physics. Among myriad approaches to addressing this problem has been the study of alternative transition metal oxides with similar structures and 3d electron count that are suggested as proxies for cuprate physics. None of these analogs has been superconducting, and few are even metallic. Here, we report that the low-valent, quasi-two-dimensional trilayer compound, Pr4Ni3O8 avoids a charge-stripe ordered phase previously reported for La4Ni3O8, leading to a metallic ground state. By combining x-ray absorption spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations, we further find that metallic Pr4Ni3O8 exhibits a low-spin configuration and significant orbital polarization of the unoccupied eg states with pronounced dx2-y2 character near the Fermi energy, both hallmarks of the cuprate superconductors. Belonging to a regime of 3d electron count found for hole-doped cuprates, Pr4Ni3O8 thus represents one of the closest analogies to cuprates yet reported and a singularly promising candidate for high-Tc superconductivity if appropriately doped., Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures

We report on the phase diagram of competing magnetic interactions at nanoscale in engineered ultra-thin trilayer heterostructures of LaTiO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$/YTiO$_{3}$, in which the interfacial inversion symmetry is explicitly broken. Combined atomic layer resolved scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron energy loss spectroscopy and electrical transport have confirmed the formation of a spatially separated two-dimensional electron liquid and high density two-dimensional localized magnetic moments at the LaTiO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ and SrTiO$_3$/YTiO$_3$ interfaces, respectively. Resonant soft X-ray linear dichroism spectroscopy has demonstrated the presence of orbital polarization of the conductive LaTiO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ and localized SrTiO$_3$/YTiO$_3$ electrons. Our results provide a route with prospects for exploring new magnetic interfaces, designing tunable two-dimensional $d$-electron Kondo lattice, and potential spin Hall applications.

In response to Lu et al, (arXiv:1506.02787v1), here we present a detailed writeup concerning the questions raised in their comment on our eprint (arXiv:1505.07451). The key question raised by Lu et al was if the bulk-like charge ordered state becomes indetectable with resonant scattering due to ultrathin film thickness. In this reply, we first detail the relation of our work to past work on the same compound by Staub et al to demonstrate that the presented data are indeed sufficient to support our claims of no charge order on ultra thin films of NdNiO3 (NNO) on NdGaO3 (NGO). Further, we demonstrate that if a well defined charge ordered phase exists in ultra thin films, it is indeed resolvable such as that in EuNiO3 (ENO)., 7 pages, 1 figure

In complex materials observed electronic phases and transitions between them often involves coupling between many degrees of freedom whose entanglement convolutes understanding of the instigating mechanism. Metal-insulator transitions are one such problem where coupling to the structural, orbital, charge, and magnetic order parameters frequently obscures the underlying physics. Here, we demonstrate a way to unravel this conundrum by heterostructuring a prototypical multi-ordered complex oxide NdNiO3 in ultra thin geometry, which preserves the metal-to-insulator transition and bulk-like magnetic order parameter, but entirely suppresses the symmetry lowering and charge order parameter. These findings illustrate the utility of heterointerfaces as a powerful method for removing competing order parameters to gain greater insight into the nature of the transition, here revealing that the magnetic order generates the transition independently, leading to a purely electronic Mott metal-insulator transition., 16 pages, 4 Figures

The orbital symmetries of electron doped iron-arsenide superconductors Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 have been measured with x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The data reveal signatures of Fe d electron itinerancy, weak electronic correlations, and a high degree of Fe-As hybridization related to the bonding topology of the Fe dxz+yz states, which are found to contribute substantially at the Fermi level. The energies and detailed orbital character of Fe and As derived unoccupied s and d states are found to be in remarkably good agreement with the predictions of standard density functional theory., Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B, 3 figures. Minor corrections added

In pursuit of creating cuprate-like electronic and orbital structures, artificial heterostructures based on LaNiO$_3$ have inspired a wealth of exciting experimental and theoretical results. However, to date there is a very limited experimental understanding of the electronic and orbital states emerging after interfacial charge-transfer and their connections to the modified band structure at the interface. Towards this goal, we have synthesized a prototypical superlattice composed of correlated metal LaNiO$_3$ and doped Mott insulator LaTiO$_{3+��}$, and investigated its electronic structure by resonant X-ray absorption spectroscopy combined with X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, electrical transport and theory calculations. The heterostructure exhibits interfacial charge-transfer from Ti to Ni sites giving rise to an insulating ground state with orbital polarization and $e_\textrm{g}$ orbital band splitting. Our findings demonstrate how the control over charge at the interface can be effectively used to create exotic electronic, orbital and spin states., 4 figures

We present a comparison of the in-plane length scale over which charge and magnetism are correlated in (La0.4Pr0.6)1-xCaxMnO3 films with x = 0.33 and 0.375, across the metal to insulator transition (MIT) temperature. We combine electrical transport (resistance) measurements, x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), and specular/off-specular x-ray resonant magnetic scattering (XRMS) measurements as a function of temperature to elucidate relationships between electronic, magnetic and morphological structure of the thin films. Using off-specular XRMS we obtained the charge-charge and charge-magnetic correlation length of these LPCMO films near the MIT. The charge-magnetic correlation length (~ 12000 {\AA}) for x = 0.33 was much larger (~4 times) than the charge-charge correlation length (~ 3200 {\AA}) at 20 K. Whereas for x = 0.375 the charge-magnetic correlation length (~ 7500 {\AA}) was smaller than the charge-charge correlation length (~ 9000 {\AA}).

We address the fundamental issue of growth of perovskite ultra-thin films under the condition of a strong polar mismatch at the heterointerface exemplified by the growth of a correlated metal LaNiO$_3$ on the band insulator SrTiO$_3$ along the pseudo cubic [111] direction. While in general the metallic LaNiO$_3$ film can effectively screen this polarity mismatch, we establish that in the ultra-thin limit, films are insulating in nature and require additional chemical and structural reconstruction to compensate for such mismatch. A combination of in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction recorded during the growth, X-ray diffraction, and synchrotron based resonant X-ray spectroscopy reveal the formation of a chemical phase La$_2$Ni$_2$O$_5$ (Ni$^{2+}$) for a few unit-cell thick films. First-principles layer-resolved calculations of the potential energy across the nominal LaNiO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interface confirm that the oxygen vacancies can efficiently reduce the electric field at the interface.

Interfaces between correlated complex oxides are promising avenues to realize new forms of magnetism that arise as a result of charge transfer, proximity effects and locally broken symmetries. We report upon the discovery of a non-collinear magnetic structure in superlattices of the ferromagnetic metallic oxide La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 (LSMO) and the correlated metal LaNiO3 (LNO). The exchange interaction between LSMO layers is mediated by the intervening LNO, such that the angle between the magnetization of neighboring LSMO layers varies in an oscillatory manner with the thickness of the LNO layer. The magnetic field, temperature, and spacer thickness dependence of the non-collinear structure are inconsistent with the bilinear and biquadratic interactions that are used to model the magnetic structure in conventional metallic multilayers. A model that couples the LSMO layers to a helical spin state within the LNO fits the observed behavior. We propose that the spin-helix results from the interaction between a spatially varying spin susceptibility within the LNO and interfacial charge transfer that creates localized Ni2+ states. This provides a new approach to engineering non-collinear spin textures in metallic oxide heterostructures that can be exploited in devices based on both spin and charge transport.

We report on a resonant soft X-ray spectroscopy study of the electronic and magnetic structure of the cuprate-manganite interface. Polarized X-ray spectroscopy measurements taken at the Cu L edge reveal up to a five-fold increase in the dichroic signal as compared to past experimental and theoretical values. Furthermore an increase in the degree of interlayer charge transfer up to 0.25e (where e is charge of an electron) per copper ion is observed leading to a profound reconstruction in the orbital scheme for these interfacial copper ions. It is inferred that these enhancement are related to an increase in TMI observed for manganite layers grown with rapidly modulated flux.

Ultrathin epitaxial films of EuNiO3 were grown on a series of substrates traversing highly compressive (- 2.4%) to highly tensile (2.5%) lattice mismatch. X-ray diffraction measurements showed the expected c-lattice parameter shift for compressive strain, but no detectable shift for tensilely strained substrates, while reciprocal space mapping confirmed the tensile strained film maintained epitaxial coherence. Transport measurements showed a successively (from tensile to compressive) lower resistance and a complete suppression of the metalinsulator transition at highly compressive lattice mismatch. Corroborating these findings, X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements revealed a strong multiplet splitting in the tensile samples that progressively weakens with increasing compressive strain that, combined with cluster calculations, showed enhanced covalence between Ni-d and O-p orbitals leads to the metallic state.

The metal-insulator transition (MIT) and the underlying electronic and orbital structure in $e_{g}^{1}$ quantum wells based on NdNiO$_{3}$ was investigated by d.c. transport and resonant soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy. By comparing quantum wells of the same dimension but with two different confinement structures, we explicitly demonstrate that the quantum well boundary condition of correlated electrons is critical to selecting the many-body ground state. In particular, the long-range orderings and the MIT are found to be strongly enhanced under quantum confinement by sandwiching NdNiO$_{3}$ with the wide-gap dielectric LaAlO$_{3}$, while they are suppressed when one of the interfaces is replaced by a surface (interface with vacuum). Resonant spectroscopy reveals that the reduced charge fluctuations in the sandwich structure are supported by the enhanced propensity to charge ordering due to the suppressed $e_g$ orbital splitting when interfaced with the confining LaAlO$_{3}$ layer.

We explore the electrical transport and magneto-conductance in quasi two-dimensional strongly correlated ultrathin films of LaNiO$_{3}$ (LNO) to investigate the effect of hetero-epitaxial strain on electron-electron and electron-lattice interactions from the low to intermediate temperature range (2K$\sim$170K). The fully epitaxial 10 unit cell thick films spanning tensile strain up to $\sim4%$ are used to investigate effects of enhanced carrier localization driven by a combination of weak localization and electron-electron interactions at low temperatures. The magneto-conductance data shows the importance of the increased contribution of weak localization to low temperature quantum corrections. The obtained results demonstrate that with increasing tensile strain and reduced temperature the quantum confined LNO system gradually evolves from the Mott into the Mott-Anderson regime.

We report on the synthesis of ultrathin films of highly distorted EuNiO3 (ENO) grown by interrupted pulse laser epitaxy on YAlO3 (YAO) substrates. Through mapping the phase space of nickelate thin film epitaxy, the optimal growth temperatures were found to scale linearly with the Goldschmidt tolerance factor. Considering the gibbs energy of the expanding film, this empirical trend is discussed in terms of epitaxial stabilization and the escalation of the lattice energy due to lattice distortions and decreasing symmetry. These findings are fundamental to other complex oxide perovskites, and provide a route to the synthesis of other perovskite structures in ultrathin-film form., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures

We report an experimental study of \nco, a Mott insulator containing chains of edge-sharing CuO$_4$ plaquettes, by polarized x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), resonant magnetic x-ray scattering (RMXS), magnetic susceptibility, and pyroelectric current measurements. The XAS data show that the valence holes reside exclusively on the Cu$^{2+}$ sites within the copper-oxide spin chains and populate a $d$-orbital polarized within the CuO$_4$ plaquettes. The RMXS measurements confirm the presence of incommensurate magnetic order below a N\'eel temperature of $T_N = 11.5$ K, which was previously inferred from neutron powder diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance data. In conjunction with the magnetic susceptibility and XAS data, they also demonstrate a new "orbital" selection rule for RMXS that is of general relevance for magnetic structure determinations by this technique. Dielectric property measurements reveal the absence of significant ferroelectric polarization below $T_N$, which is in striking contrast to corresponding observations on the isostructural compound \lco. The results are discussed in the context of current theories of multiferroicity., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures

The interfacial properties of Y0.6Pr0.4Ba2Cu3O7/La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 superlattices have been studied by resonant soft x-rays and diffuse scattered neutrons. Linearly polarized X-ray absorption at Cu L3 -edge reveals dramatic interfacial changes from the bulk including charge transfer between LCMO and YPBCO and an orbital reconstruction in the interface CuO2 plane. The similarities to the case of zero Pr-doping are due to the strongly hybridized covalent bond between Cu and Mn. However, reduced charge transfer and a more bulk-like interfacial orbital occupation are observed and related to the effect of Pr-doping. Neutron reflectometry measurements reveal a drastic increase in diffuse scattering with decreasing temperature, likely due to buckling caused by the structural phase transition of the SrTiO3 substrate. We observe no evidence that this diffuse scattering is related to the superconducting transition., 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PRB

We use time-resolved x-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy to investigate the electronic dynamics associated with the photoinduced insulator-to-metal phase transition in the colossal magnetoresistive manganite Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3. Absorption changes at the O K and Mn L edges directly monitor the evolution of the density of unoccupied states in the transient photoinduced phase. We show that the electronic structure of the photoinduced phase is remarkably similar to that of the ferromagnetic metallic phase reached in related manganites upon cooling below the Curie temperature

A combination of spectroscopic probes was used to develop a detailed experimental description of the transport and magnetic properties of superlattices composed of the paramagnetic metal CaRuO$_3$ and the antiferromagnetic insulator CaMnO$_3$. The charge carrier density and Ru valence state in the superlattices are not significantly different from those of bulk CaRuO$_3$. The small charge transfer across the interface implied by these observations confirms predictions derived from density functional calculations. However, a ferromagnetic polarization due to canted Mn spins penetrates 3-4 unit cells into CaMnO$_3$, far exceeding the corresponding predictions. The discrepancy may indicate the formation of magnetic polarons at the interface., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

Using polarized X-rays, we compare the electronic and magnetic properties of a La(2/3)Sr(1/3)MnO(3)(LSMO)/SrTiO(3)(STO) and a modified LSMO/LaMnO(3)(LMO)/STO interface. Using the technique of X-ray resonant magnetic scattering (XRMS), we can probe the interfaces of complicated layered structures and quantitatively model depth-dependent magnetic profiles as a function of distance from the interface. Comparisons of the average electronic and magnetic properties at the interface are made independently using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The XAS and the XMCD demonstrate that the electronic and magnetic structure of the LMO layer at the modified interface is qualitatively equivalent to the underlying LSMO film. From the temperature dependence of the XMCD, it is found that the near surface magnetization for both interfaces falls off faster than the bulk. For all temperatures in the range of 50K - 300K, the magnetic profiles for both systems always show a ferromagnetic component at the interface with a significantly suppressed magnetization that evolves to the bulk value over a length scale of ~1.6 - 2.4 nm. The LSMO/LMO/STO interface shows a larger ferromagnetic (FM) moment than the LSMO/STO interface, however the difference is only substantial at low temperature., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

A simple scheme to extract the magnetization reversals of characteristic magnetic domains on nanofabricated periodic arrays from soft x-ray resonant magnetic scattering (SXRMS) data is presented. The SXRMS peak intensities from a permalloy square ring array were measured with field cycling using circularly polarized soft x-rays at the Ni L$_3$ absorption edge. Various SXRMS hysteresis loops observed at different diffraction orders enabled the determination of the magnetization reversal of each magnetic domain using a simple linear algebra. The extracted domain-specific hysteresis loops reveal that the magnetization of the domain parallel to the field is strongly pinned, while that of the perpendicular domain rotates continuously., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures