One of the key goals in spintronics is to tame the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) that links spin and motion of electrons, giving rise to intriguing magneto-transport properties in itinerant magnets. Prominent examples of such SOC-based phenomena are the anomalous and topological Hall effects. However, controlling them with electric fields has remained unachieved since an electric field tends to be screened in itinerant magnets. Here we demonstrate that both anomalous and topological Hall effects can be modulated by electric fields in oxide heterostructures consisting of ferromagnetic SrRuO3 and nonmagnetic SrIrO3. We observe a clear electric field effect only when SrIrO3 is inserted between SrRuO3 and a gate dielectric. Our results establish that strong SOC of nonmagnetic materials such as SrIrO3 is essential in electrical tuning of these Hall effects and possibly other SOC-related phenomena.

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We have developed a new interatomic potential of Si-O-C-N with newly added N for classical molecular dynamics simulation of NO annealing at 4H-SiC/SiO2 interface. By adjusting the potential parameters to reproduce the material properties obtained from first-principles calculations for various kinds of structures, the accuracy of the potential has improved well enough to reproduce the formation of Si3N termination at the 4H-SiC/SiO2 interface during NO annealing. We have also observed that the defects with C=C double bonds have been modified into C-N bonds, which is supposed to be the decomposition process of residual C atoms in the NO annealing of 4H-SiC/SiO2.

Layered oxides have been intensively studied due to their high designability for various electronic functions. Here we synthesize a new oxide as epitaxial thin film form by pulsed laser deposition. Film characterizations including cross-section and plan-view transmission electron microscopy confirm that the film is composed of twisted stack of triangular-lattice Rh and Bi layers. We foresee that the concept of twisted oxide layers will open up a new route to design further functional layered oxides.