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The semiconductor industry has seen a remarkable miniaturization trend, where the size of microelectronic circuit components is expected to reach the scale of atom even subatom. Here, an orbital switch formed at the interface between BaTiO3 (BTO) and La0.5Sr0.5MnO3 (LSMO) is used to manipulate the electric field effect in the LSMO/BTO heterostructure. The orbital switch is based on the connection or breakdown of interfacial Ti-O-Mn bond due to the ferroelectric displacement under external electric field. This finding would pave the way for the tuning of the material performance or device operation at atomic level and introducing the orbital degree of freedom into the terrain of microelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical manipulation of lattice, charge, and spin is realized respectively by the piezoelectric effect, field-effect transistor, and electric field control of ferromagnetism, bringing about dramatic promotions both in fundamental research and industrial production. However, it is generally accepted that the orbital of materials are impossible to be altered once they have been made. Here, electric field is used to dynamically tune the electronic-phase transition in (La,Sr)MnO3 films with different Mn4+/(Mn3+ + Mn4+) ratios. The orbital occupancy and corresponding magnetic anisotropy of these thin films are manipulated by gate voltage in a reversible and quantitative manner. Positive gate voltage increases the proportion of occupancy of the orbital and magnetic anisotropy that were initially favored by strain (irrespective of tensile and compressive), while negative gate voltage reduces the concomitant preferential orbital occupancy and magnetic anisotropy. Besides its fundamental significance in orbital physics, these findings might advance the process towards practical oxide-electronics based on orbital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]