Subband structure of two-dimensional electron gases in SrTiO3

Tunneling between two parallel, two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) in a complex oxide heterostructure containing a large, mobile electron density of ∼3 × 1014 cm−2 is used to probe the subband structure of the 2DEGs. Temperature-dependent current-voltage measurements are performed on SrTiO3/GdTiO3/SrTiO3 junctions, where GdTiO3 serves as the tunnel barrier, and each interface contains a high-density 2DEG. Resonant tunneling features in the conductance and its derivative occur when subbands on either side of the barrier align in energy as the applied bias is changed, and are used to analyze subband energy spacings in the two 2DEGs. We show that the results agree substantially with recent theoretical predictions for such interfaces