The new science of oxide interfaces

Over the past decade, a huge range of emergent properties have been demonstrated at the interfaces between complex oxides. Such properties represent a paradigm of ‘greater than the sum of parts’, with radically different properties to the parent materials being obtained. Hence, oxide interfaces offer the potential to create entirely new functionality, and, in many cases, they do this at room temperature. The most notable example of the recent years is one where electronic reconstruction occurs at interfaces leading to many novel phenomena: two-dimensional electron gases with remarkable properties, superconducting states where the conductivity is confined to a single atomic plane, improper ferroelectric states and interfacial magnetism.