Breaking Spin and Exchange Symmetries in Compositionally Complex Oxide Heterostructures

The way that materials behave can simply be thought of as a response to what the electrons in the material are doing. Controlling the atoms' arrangement to one another in a crystal lattice changes where the electrons reside and how they interact with one another. If we can continuously control atomic compositions and structural relationships between the constituent elements, we can then manipulate functionality with unprecedented precision. I will describe our efforts to open previously inaccessible lattice symmetries and compositional phase spaces in strongly correlated quantum materials by means of entropy-assisted synthesis of high entropy oxides. I will provide examples from our recent works that demonstrates how continuous control of symmetry opens new avenues to manipulate magnetic anisotropy and how compositional complexity can be used to design dynamic spin frustration by tailoring local degeneracies. We will close with a discussion of how shifting local variances in spin and exchange coupling types while maintaining position symmetries provides exciting opportunities for designing novel Griffiths phases or quantum many-body systems with tunable critical behaviors.