d⁰ Ferromagnetic Interface between Nonmagnetic Perovskites

We use computational and experimental methods to study d0 ferromagnetism at a charge-imbalanced interface between two perovskites. In SrTiO3/KTaO3 superlattice calculations, the charge imbalance introduces holes in the SrTiO3 layer, inducing a d0 ferromagnetic half-metallic 2D hole gas at the interface oxygen 2p orbitals. The charge imbalance overrides doping by vacancies at realistic concentrations. Varying the constituent materials shows ferromagnetism to be a general property of hole-type d0 perovskite interfaces. Atomically sharp epitaxial d0 SrTiO3/KTaO3, SrTiO3/KNbO3, and SrTiO3/NaNbO3 interfaces are found to exhibit ferromagnetic hysteresis at room temperature. We suggest that the behavior is due to the high density of states and exchange coupling at the oxygen t1g band in comparison with the more studied d band t2g symmetry electron gas.