Electric field control of disorder-tunable superconductivity and the emergence of quantum metal at an oxide interface

Abstract

We report on an extraordinary field effect of the superconducting LaAlO3/KTaO3(111) interface with Tc ~2 K. By applying a gate voltage (VG) across KTaO3, the interface can be continuously tuned from superconducting into insulating states, yielding a dome-shaped Tc-VG dependence. The electric gating has only a minor effect on carrier density as evidenced in the Hall-effect measurement, while it changes spatial profile of the carriers in the interface, hence the carrier's disorder level significantly. As temperature is decreased, the resistance saturates at lowest temperature in both superconducting and insulating sides, despite an initial dramatic dropping or increasing, which suggests an emergence of quantum metallic state associated with failed superconductor and/or fragile insulator. A VG-modulation of the magnetic-field-driven superconductor to insulator quantum phase transition reveals a non-universal criticality.