Metallic interfaces between insulating oxides such as STO-LAO or STO-GTO provide a versatile platform to study two dimensional electron liquids. Numerous experiments have observed magnetism and significant spin-orbit effects in such structures. We construct the general free energy governing long-wavelength magnetism in two-dimensional oxide heterostructures, which applies irrespective of the microscopic mechanism for magnetism. This leads, in the relevant regime of weak but non-negligible spin-orbit coupling, to a rich phase diagram containing in-plane ferromagnetic, spiral, cone, and skyrmion lattice phases, as well as a nematic state stabilized by thermal fluctuations.
|