Transition metal oxides

Binary transition metal (TM) oxides have been attracting fundamental scientific interest for many years. Their strong electron-electron interaction, combined with their compositional simplicity, makes them important model compounds for understanding effects of strong correlation in phenomena such as magnetism and electron transport. Novel properties are predicted for ultrathin films of these oxides on metallic substrates. These properties are expected to differ from bulk properties due to both the reduced dimensionality and the influence of the interface.
We study metal oxide / metal interfaces with respect to chemical reactions, interface strain, local geometry and changes in the electronic structure as a function of the film thickness of the deposited TM oxide.
These findings are of interest for investigations in which thin metal-supported oxide films are prepared to mimic bulk-like properties. On the other hand one can use the thickness-dependent changes to tailor electronic properties of thin-films gradually.