Gate-tunable electron interaction in high-κ dielectric films

The two-dimensional (2D) logarithmic character of Coulomb interaction between charges and the resulting logarithmic confinement is a remarkable inherent property of high dielectric constant (high-κ) thin films with far reaching implications. Most and foremost, this is the charge Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition with the notable manifestation, low-temperature superinsulating topological phase. Here we show that the range of the confinement can be tuned by the external gate electrode and unravel a variety of electrostatic interactions in high-k films. We find that by reducing the distance from the gate to the film, we decrease the spatial range of the 2D long-range logarithmic interaction, changing it to predominantly dipolar or even to exponential one at lateral distances exceeding the dimension of the film-gate separation. Our findings offer a unique laboratory for the in-depth study of topological phase transitions and related phenomena that range from criticality of quantum metal- and superconductor-insulator transitions to the effects of charge-trapping and Coulomb scalability in memory nanodevices.