PERSPECTIVE: Emergent phases in rare earth nickelate heterostructures

Abstract

The prediction of high Tc superconductivity in layers of LaNiO3 through orbital engineering has led to extensive research efforts over the last fifteen years. During this period, a plethora of thin films and heterostructures based rare-earth nickelate family with perovskite structure has been synthesized and explored. In this short perspective, we briefly review the complexity of bulk RENiO3, spotlighting several recent findings of emergent phenomena in heterostructures containing the interface between RENiO3 and another transition metal oxide. Finally, we outline potentially interesting future directions linked to time-domain dynamics to harness new Mott and topological phases in artificial structures of RENiO3.