David Adler Lectureship Award in the Field of Materials Physics (2020): Epitaxial Oxides: From Basic Science to Application

Oxide materials are the most abundant compound in the earth’s crust and possess a wide range of
electrical, optical, and magnetic properties. For instance, insulators, high quality metals,
dielectrics, ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics, semiconductors, ferromagnetics, transparent conductors,
ionic conductors, multiferroics superconductors, and nonlinear optical materials have all been
produced using oxide materials. Oxide materials have enormous potential as the fundamental
building block of new generations of electronic, magnetic, optical and electromechanical
devices. We create these materials by artificially layering various atoms including oxygen at the
single atom level, as well as stacking of epitaxial membranes. Our goal is to create new materials
and heterostructures with novel properties likely to advance basic science and future
applications. I will present advances in epitaxial oxide systems in general, and highlight several
examples of how our research has played a role in understanding fundamental solid state
phenomena at the atomic scale and in the discovery of new materials. Atomic layer control of
novel oxide heterointerfaces may provide some of the answers that we need to continue the
electronics revolution, particularly for frontier nanoscale devices. I will discuss the challenges
and opportunities in this exciting field.