LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 are two well known non‐magnetic insulators, but when LaAlO3 is deposited on SrTiO3 to form a clean LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface, the interface becomes an ultra‐thin sheet of conductor. Even more surprisingly, the interface exhibits unusual magnetic properties, but the origin of the observed interfacial magnetism is under debate. Researchers at Ohio State University's Center for Emergent Materials have shown that the magnetism at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface can be explained by symmetry of electronic structure and spin‐orbit coupling, which lead to chiral interactions and give rise to a spiral magnetism The chiral interactions can lead to exotic spin textures like skyrmion crystals which are promising for future electronic devices with ultralow energy consumption. Our results can explain the previously controversial experiments on magnetization observed at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces.
