Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy studies of metallic surface and interface states of oxide insulators

Over the last decade, conducting states embedded in insulating transition metal oxides (TMOs) have served as gateways to discovering and probing surprising phenomena that can emerge in complex oxides, while also opening opportunities for engineering advanced devices. These states are commonly realized at thin film interfaces, such as the well-known case of LaAlO₃ (LAO) grown on SrTiO₃ (STO). In recent years, the use of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to investigate the k-space electronic structure of such materials led to the discovery that metallic states can also be formed on the bare surfaces of certain TMOs. In this topical review, we report on recent studies of low-dimensional metallic states confined at insulating oxide surfaces and interfaces as seen from the perspective of ARPES, which provides a direct view of the occupied band structure. While offering a fairly broad survey of progress in the field, we draw particular attention to STO, whose surface is so far the best-studied, and whose electronic structure is probably of the most immediate interest, given the ubiquitous use of STO substrates as the basis for conducting oxide interfaces. The ARPES studies provide crucial insights into the electronic band structure, orbital character, dimensionality/confinement, spin structure, and collective excitations in STO surfaces and related oxide surface/interface systems. The obtained knowledge increases our understanding of these complex materials and gives new perspectives on how to manipulate their properties.