Visualization of localized holes in manganite thin films with atomic resolution

The magnetic and transport behaviors of manganites are critically related to the spatial distribution and correlation of doped holes. Using in situ scanning tunneling microscopy, we have imaged both occupied and unoccupied states simultaneously in a hole-doped (La(5/8-0.3)Pr0.3)Ca(3/8)MnO3 epitaxial thin film grown by laser molecular beam epitaxy. Doped holes localized on Mn4+ ion sites were directly observed with atomic resolution in the paramagnetic state at room temperature. In contrast to a random distribution, these doped holes show strong short-range correlation and clear preference of forming nanoscale CE-type charge-order-like clusters. The results provide direct visualization of the nature of intriguing electronic inhomogeneity in transition metal oxides.     

Intrinsic inhomogeneities in manganite thin films investigated with scanning tunneling spectroscopy

Thin films of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 on MgO show a metal insulator transition and colossal magnetoresistance. The shape of this transition can be explained by intrinsic spatial inhomogeneities, which give rise to a domain structure of conducting and insulating domains at the submicrometer scale. These domains then undergo a percolation transition. The tunneling conductance and tunneling gap measured by scanning tunneling spectroscopy were used to distinguish and visualize these domains.     

Strain effects in charge-ordered Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 manganite thin films

Thin films of the charge-ordered (CO) compound Pr_0.5Ca_0.5MnO₃ have been grown by utilizing the Pulsed Laser Deposition technique. Films are deposited onto LaAlO₃ and SrTiO₃ substrates in order to check the effect of strains (compression and tensile). Using various techniques of characterization, we show that the strains of substrate influence the lattice parameters, the orientation of the orthorhombic structure, the transport properties and the stability of the CO state.     

Enhanced magneto-electrical properties and room temperature magnetoresistance in lightly doped manganite thin films

We report the effect of compressive strain on magnetic and magneto-electrical properties of lightly doped manganite La_0.88Sr_0.12MnO₃ thin films. Films, having 5-60 nm thickness, were grown on (001) LaAlO₃ and (001) SrTiO₃ substrate by DC-magnetron sputtering. These films show a magnetoresistance as high as ∼65% at room temperature and insulator-metal transition temperature . Further, we demonstrate that a small variation in strain causes significant changes in their properties. We have discussed the possible origin of these features and compared with the reported literature.     

Properties of thin manganite films grown on semiconducting substrates for spintronics applications

La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) manganite thin films were grown by pulsed plasma deposition on silicon (Si) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates covered by an amorphous oxide. Manganite films are characterized by polycrystalline structure. Ferromagnetic transition is above room temperature and for 50 nm thick film the Curie temperature was as high as 325 K and 305 K for LSMO/SiO_x/Si and LSMO/AlO_x/GaAs, respectively.     

High-quality in situ manganite thin films by pulsed laser deposition at low background pressures

We show that by decreasing the laser fluence it is possible to improve the oxidation process in manganite thin films under low background oxygen pressure, allowing the in situ use of conventional Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction diagnostic. Films deposited at low fluence (corresponding to a deposition rate per pulse lower than 10^-2 unit cells per laser shot) show a two-dimensional growth mode and possess very good transport properties without the necessity of any further post-growth annealing treatment. A physical model, based on the plume-background interaction as a primary mechanism of film oxidation during growth, is proposed to explain the experimental findings.     

Brillouin light scattering in CMR manganite films

Thin films of La_0.7A_0.3MnO₃ (A=Ce, Ca, and Sr) and La_0.55Ho_0.15Sr_0.3MnO₃ manganites have been investigated by Brillouin light scattering at room temperature. The phonon spectra for the Ce-doped sample showed an interesting three-peak structure at frequency shifts of 11.4, 13.8 and 16.1 GHz, with negligible dispersion and in-plane anisotropy. For a fixed scattering angle, the phonon spectrum of the other samples showed a broad peak at a smaller frequency (<10 GHz). It is shown that the observed phonon frequency decreases with increasing ionic character of the La–Mn bonds resulting from the replacement of part of the atoms of La by Ce, Ca, Sr and Ho.     

Photoinduced metal-to-insulator transition in a manganite thin film

A persistent photoinduced metal-to-insulator transition has been confirmed in a manganite thin film, Pr_(0.55)(Ca_(0.75)Sr_(0.25))_(0.45)MnO3, near a multicritical point by monitoring with transport measurements and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Together with the previously reported reverse effect, the photoinduced insulator-to-metal transition, it is found that the relative stability of the metallic and insulating phases interchanges around 80 K in the middle of a very wide hysteresis loop, which is a manifestation of the large potential barrier due to the long-range elastic energy. It is shown that photons are much more effective in overcoming the barrier via the electronically excited intermediate states than via the heat mode.     

Magnetic anisotropy of strained epitaxial manganite films

The in-plane magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) films is studied at room temperature by the following three independent techniques: magnetooptical Kerr effect, ferromagnetic resonance at a frequency of 9.61 GHz, and recording of absorption spectra of electromagnetic radiation at a frequency of 290.6 MHz. The films are deposited onto NdGaO₃ (NGO) substrates in which the (110)NGO plane is tilted at an angle of 0–25.7° to the substrate plane. The uniaxial magnetic anisotropy induced by the strain of the film is found to increase with the tilt angle of the (110)NGO plane. A model is proposed to describe the change in the magnetic anisotropy energy with the tilt angle. A sharp increase in the radio-frequency absorption in a narrow angular range of a dc magnetic field near a hard magnetization axis is detected The anisotropy parameters of the LSMO films grown on (110)NGO, (001)SrTiO₃, and (001)[(LaAlO₃)_0.3 + (Sr₂AlTaO₆)_0.7] substrates are compared.     

Transport and photoinduced properties in highly Sr-deficient manganite films

We used the method of finite-difference time domain (FDTD) to study the characteristics of the patch antenna based on a novel periodic structure, and the theory of photonic crystal structure (also photonic band gap [PBG]) structure was introduced. The results obtained show that the surface waves propagating along the substrate surface can be suppressed by the periodic structure due to the influence of its forbidden band, and the energy of the electromagnetic waves is concentrated mainly in the substrate. As a result, the patch antenna based on the periodic structure has a wider bandwidth in comparison with the conventional patch antennae; and a higher gain is reached, so the patch antenna’s performance is improved. Due to such the advantages, the application of patch antennae can be extended in such fields as mobile communication, satellite communication, aviation, etc.     

双层锰氧化物薄膜的制备及其物理性质

用脉冲激光沉积(PLD)方法成功地制备了双层钙钛矿结构的La2-2xSr1+2xMn2O7(x=032)单相薄膜.这种薄膜生长在具有不同晶格参数的两种衬底上.测量发现，两种衬底上生长的La2-2xSr1+2xMn2O7(x=032)薄膜具有迥然不同的金属-绝缘体转变温度TM-I及其他物性.界面应力的研究表明这是衬底晶格常数不同引起膜内应变的结果.在衬底的压应力下，薄膜的电阻-温度曲线的峰值(TM-I)向高温移动且电阻率(ρ)下降；相反，对于衬底张应力下的薄膜，TM-I下降ρ上升.这些结果可以用双交换模型做很好的解释. 关键词： CMR 双层锰氧化物薄膜 PLD 应力     

Review of photoinduced effect in manganite films and their heterostructures

Light–matter interaction plays an important role in the non-equilibrium physics, especially in strongly correlated electron systems with complex phases. Photoinduced effect can cause the variation in the physical properties and produce some emergent phases. As a classical archetype, manganites have received much attention due to their colossal magnetoresistance(CMR) effect and the strong interaction of charge, spin, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom. In this paper, we give an overview of photoinduced effect in manganites and their heterostructures. In particular, some materials, including ZnO, Si,BiFeO_3(BFO), titanate-based oxides, and 0.7 Pb(Mg_(1/3) Nb_(2/3))O_3-0.3 PbTiO_3(PMN-PT) have been integrated with manganites. Heterostructures composed of these materials display some exciting and intriguing properties. We do hope that this review offers a guiding idea and more meaningful physical phenomena will be discovered in active areas of solid state physics and materials science.     

Colossal magnetoresistance effect in epitaxially grown La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 perovskite-like manganite thin films

We report in this work, study on colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) effect in epitaxial La_2/3Ca_1/3 MnO₃ thin films grown on SrTiO₃ (0 0 1) substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The films were grown on as-received SrTiO₃ substrates and on SrTiO₃ substrates prepared by HF etching (Koster et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 73 (1998) 2920; V. Leca et al., Wet etching methods for perovskite substrates, University of Twente, MESA+ Research Institute, Low Temperature Division). Two of the samples were annealed in different conditions to investigate the films heat treatment effect on electric and magnetic properties. Electrical resistance was done using the four-probe method at temperatures in the range of 2–375 K without a magnetic field and in an external field of 5 T applied in the film plane. Resistance-magnetic field (R vs. H) at 77 K for the two annealed samples was done in a 5 T sweep magnetic field. The surface morphology and structural information of the films were obtained using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) analysis was performed on the annealed samples to investigate any possible chemical reaction between La_2/3Ca_1/3MnO₃ thin films and SrTiO₃ substrate.     

A-site ordering versus electronic inhomogeneity in colossally magnetoresistive manganite films

Epitaxial La(3/4)Ca(1/4)MnO3/MgO(100) (LCMO) thin film shows an unusual rhombohedral (R-3c) structure with a new perovskite superstructure at room temperature due to the CE-type ordering of La and Ca with modulation vector q=1/4[011]. A-site ordered film was found to be electronically homogeneous down to the 1 nm scale as revealed by scanning tunnelling microscopy/spectroscopy. In contrast, orthorhombic and A-site disordered LCMO demonstrate a mesoscopic phase separation far below the Curie temperature (TC). Unique La/Ca ordering compensates the cation mismatch stress within one supercell, a(S) approximately 1.55 nm, and enhances the electronic homogeneity. The phase separation does not seem to be a unique mechanism for the colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) as very large CMR approximately 500% was also observed in A-site ordered films.     

Evolution of structural and magnetic properties with varying oxygen content in low-bandwidth manganite Pr0.9Ca0.1MnO3 thin films

The effects of ex situ vacuum and oxygen annealing treatments on thin films of the low-bandwidth compound Pr(1-x)Ca(x)MnO(3) (PCMO) are investigated. Structural and magnetic measurements reveal that increased ferromagnetism can be achieved by oxygen annealing treatment, which is linked to the increased Mn(4+) ion content, as observed from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements, as well as relaxation of the substrate-induced tensile strain of the PCMO unit cell. The increased number of Mn(4+) ions and partial release of strain lead to stronger double-exchange interaction in the system. Vacuum annealing increases the ferromagnetic (FM) interaction as well; however, the increased FM ordering is not directly related to the improved double-exchange interaction, as XPS measurement reveals an indication of a slight increase in Mn(3+) ions in this case. Trapping of carriers in the oxygen vacancies and formation of magnetic polarons have been suggested as the causes of the increase in ferromagnetic ordering, and this is also supported by the large coercivity and longer spin memory in the vacuum annealed PCMO.     

Persistent and reversible all-optical phase control in a manganite thin film

Persistent and reversible optical phase control has been achieved in a manganite thin film through a careful choice of the composition of Pr1-x(Ca1-ySr(y))xMnO3 near a multicritical point. Pulsed laser light brings the lower temperature metallic phase out of the higher temperature charge-ordered insulator, while a cw light reverses the effect by heating. We clearly demonstrate the two competing roles played by light, heating, and excitation across the charge gap, which are important in both the application and the understanding of the physics of electron correlation.     

Segregation in thin films

The longitudinal and transverse components of the image force acting on a moving charge near a metal surface are calculated. In particular, it is found that the transverse force is finite at the surface in contrast to the classical image force. The transverse force leads to deviations in trajectory in grazing incidence reflection inelastic electron scattering experiments, which are estimated. A consequence is the existence of a limiting maximum probability for excitation of surface plasmons.     

Electrons in thin films

The method of evaluation of broken-symmetry Green’s function is presented. This method was applied to electron subsystem of a thin film. It was found that electron concentrations are spatially dependent and their spatial distribution proves the existence of skin effect. The skin effect is most expressed in the films of minimal thickness. The internal energy of electrons lying in the film Fermi volume, decreases with the increase of temperature. It is the consequence of the Pauli principle, which does not allow change of electron velocities. Introduced heat increases electron effective masses and this leads to the decrease of internal energy.     

Magnetic nonuniformity and thermal hysteresis of magnetism in a manganite thin film

We measured the chemical and magnetic depth profiles of a single crystalline (La(1-x)Pr(x))(1-y)Ca(y)MnO(3-δ) (x=0.52±0.05, y=0.23±0.04, δ=0.14±0.10) film grown on a NdGaO(3) substrate using x-ray reflectometry, electron microscopy, electron energy-loss spectroscopy, and polarized neutron reflectometry. Our data indicate that the film exhibits coexistence of different magnetic phases as a function of depth. The magnetic depth profile is correlated with a variation of chemical composition with depth. The thermal hysteresis of ferromagnetic order in the film suggests a first-order ferromagnetic transition at low temperatures.