Impact of biaxial compressive strain on the heterostructures of paraelectrics KTaO3 and SrTiO3

We have performed density functional theory calculations to explore the impact of biaxial compressive strain on the heterostructures of paraelectrics KTaO3 and SrTiO3. We find that the strain induces strong ferroelectric distortion in KTaO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures and it stabilizes the heterostructures in ferroelectric states. The strain influences the distribution of doped holes and leads to the localization of holes in TiO2 layer. It is very interesting that ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism simultaneously present in the strained heterostructures formed by the paraelectrics KTaO3 and SrTiO3. The reversal of ferroelectric polarization changes the interface magnetization and thus results in magnetoelectric coupling effect in the heterostructures. (C) 2015 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.