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Hybrid multiferroics such as BiFeO$_3$ (BFO) and La$_{0.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$(LSMO) heterostructures are highly interesting functional systems due to theircomplex electronic and magnetic properties. One of the key parametersinfluencing the emergent properties is the quality of interfaces, where varyinginterdiffusion lengths can give rise to different chemistry and distinctiveelectronic states. Here we report high-resolution depth resolved chemical andelectronic investigation of BFO/LSMO superlattice using standing-wave hardX-ray photoemission spectroscopy in the first-order Bragg as well asnear-total-reflection geometry. Our results show that the interfaces of BFO ontop of LSMO are atomically abrupt, while the LSMO on top of BFO interfaces showan interdiffusion length of around 1.2 unit cells. The two interfaces alsoexhibit different chemical gradients, with the BFO/LSMO interface beingSr-terminated by a spectroscopically distinctive high binding energy componentin Sr 2p core-level spectra, which is spatially contained within 1 unit cellfrom the interface. From the electronic point of view, unique valence bandfeatures were observed for bulk-BFO, bulk-LSMO and their interfaces. Our X-rayoptical analysis revealed a unique electronic signature at the BFO/LSMOinterface, which we attribute to the coupling between those respective layers.Valence band decomposition based on the Bragg-reflection standing-wavemeasurement also revealed the band alignment between BFO and LSMO layers. Ourwork demonstrates that standing-wave hard x-ray photoemission is a reliablenon-destructive technique for probing depth-resolved electronic structure ofburied layers and interfaces with sub-unit-cell resolution. Equivalentinvestigations can be successfully applied to a broad class of material such asperovskite complex oxides with emergent interfacial phenomena.

Hard x-ray standing-wave photoemission study of the interfaces in a BiFeO$_3$/La$_{0.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$ superlattice