CITRON (Design and control of spin, orbital and charge orders in vanadates)

Bridging together material science, ferroelectricity and spin electronics in antiferromagnetic perovskite oxides, CITRON will explore new routes for tailoring multifunctional properties – by design – in vanadate-based systems, especially for the spin manipulation operated by an electric field.

The project is structured around 4 main objectives:

• Grow and design epitaxial RVO₃ thin films and superlattices in order to tailor the electron degrees of freedom (spin, orbital charge) the lattice distortions and atomic arrangements
• Characterize – in depth –  the crystalline structure and interactions using advanced characterization tools (mojito) and determine the intimate couplings and interactions at the microscopic scale
• Unravel a ferroelectric character of designed R’VO₃ / RVO₃ superlattices and its relation to the crystalline structure through epitaxial / chemical strain engineering
• Assemble the charge order and spin order building blocks for the electric control of magnetic states in RVO₃-systems and spin transport phenomena.=