Electronic phase transitions in Pr${}_{0.5}$Ca${}_{0.5}$MnO${}_3$ epitaxial thin films revealed by resonant soft x-ray scattering

Abstract

We report the study of magnetic and orbital order in Pr${}_{0.5}$Ca${}_{0.5}$MnO${}_3$ epitaxial thin films grown on (LaAlO${}_3$)${}_{0.3}$-(SrAl${}_{0.5}$Ta${}_{0.5}$O${}_3$)${}_{0.7}$ (LSAT) (011)${}_c$. In a new experimental approach, the polarization and energy dependence of resonant soft x-ray scattering are used to reveal significant modifications of the magnetic order in the film as compared to the bulk, namely (i) a different magnetic ordering wave vector, (ii) a different magnetic easy axis and (iii) an additional magnetic reordering transition at low temperatures. These observations indicate a strong impact of the epitaxial strain on the spin order, which is mediated by the orbital degrees of freedom and which provides a promising route to tune the magnetic properties of manganite films. Our results further demonstrate that resonant soft x-ray scattering is a very suitable technique to study the magnetism in thin films, to which neutron scattering cannot easily be applied due to the small sample volume.

5 pages, 3 figures

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Thickness dependence and dimensionality effects of charge and magnetic orderings in La1/3Sr2/3FeO3 thin films