Octahedral rotation patterns in strained EuFeO3 and other Pbnm perovskite films: Implications for hybrid improper ferroelectricity

Abstract

We report the relationship between epitaxial strain and the crystallographic orientation of the in-phase rotation axis and A-site displacements in Pbnm-type perovskite films. Synchrotron diffraction measurements of EuFeO3 films under strain states ranging from 2% compressive to 0.9% tensile on cubic or rhombohedral substrates exhibit a combination of a-a+c- and a+a-c- rotational patterns. We compare the EuFeO3 behavior with previously reported experimental and theoretical work on strained Pbnm-type films on non-orthorhombic substrates, as well as additional measurements from LaGaO3, LaFeO3, and Eu0.7Sr0.3MnO3 films on SrTiO3. Compiling the results from various material systems reveals a general strain dependence in which compressive strain strongly favors a-a+c- and a+a-c- rotation patterns and tensile strain weakly favors a-a-c+ structures. In contrast, EuFeO3 films grown on Pbnm-type GdScO3 under 2.3% tensile strain take on a uniform a-a+c- rotation pattern imprinted from the substrate, despite strain energy considerations that favor the a-a-c+ pattern. These results point to the use of substrate imprinting as a more robust route than strain for tuning the crystallographic orientations of the octahedral rotations and A-site displacements needed to realize rotation-induced hybrid improper ferroelectricity in oxide heterostructures.

submitted to PRB, comments welcomed

References in corpus (18)

• Octahedral rotation-induced ferroelectricity in cation ordered perovskites
• Suppression of Octahedral Tilts and Associated Changes of Electronic Properties at Epitaxial Oxide Heterostructure Interfaces
• Quantifying octahedral rotations in strained perovskite oxide films
• Turning ABO${}_3$ antiferroelectrics into ferroelectrics: Design rules for practical rotation-driven ferroelectricity in double perovskites and A${}_3$B${}_2$O${}_7$ Ruddlesden-Popper compounds
• Polar octahedral rotations: a path to new multifunctional materials
• Designing a robustly metallic noncenstrosymmetric ruthenate oxide with large thermopower anisotropy
• Conducting interfaces between band insulating oxides: the LaGaO3/SrTiO3
• Magnetoelastic coupling in RETiO3 (RE = La, Nd, Sm, Gd, Y)
• Room temperature Epitaxial Stabilization of a Tetragonal Phase in ARuO3 (A=Ca,Sr) Thin Films
• Strain-induced ferroelectricity in CaTiO${}_3$ from first principles
• Spectacular decrease of the melting magnetic field in the charge-ordered state of tensile Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 films
• Strong coupling of Jahn-Teller distortion to oxygen-octahedron rotation and functional properties in epitaxially-strained orthorhombic LaMnO${}_3$
• Incipient ferroelectricity in 2.3% tensile-strained CaMnO3 films
• Nanoscale Quantification of Octahedral Tilts in Perovskite Films
• Direct observation of charge mediated lattice distortions in complex oxide solid solutions
• Linear magnetoelectricity at room temperature in perovskite superlattices by design
• Structural and electronic properties of epitaxially-strained LaVO_3 from density functional theory and dynamical mean-field theory
• Structural, magnetic, and electronic properties of GdTiO3 Mott insulator thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Unexpected crystalline homogeneity from the disordered bond network in La(Cr0.2Mn0.2Fe0.2Co0.2Ni0.2)O3 films
• Two-dimensional ferroelectricity induced by octahedral rotation distortion in perovskite oxides
• Coupling lattice instabilities across the interface in ultrathin oxide heterostructures
• Semi-Dirac and Weyl Fermions in Transition Metal Oxides
• Low temperature Terahertz Spectroscopy of LaFeO${}_3$, PrFeO${}_3$, ErFeO${}_3$, and LuFeO${}_3$: Quasimagnon resonances and ground multiplet transitions
• Strain engineering of the magnetic anisotropy and magnetic moment in NdFeO3 epitaxial thin films
• Interfacial reconstruction effects in insulating double perovskite Nd${}_2$NiMnO${}_6$/SrTiO${}_3$ and Nd${}_2$NiMnO${}_6$/NdGaO${}_3$ thin films