No Arabic abstract
Nickelates are known for their metal to insulator transition (MIT) and an unusual magnetic ordering, occurring at T=T_Neel. Here, we investigate thin films of SmNiO_3 subjected to different levels of epitaxial strain. We find that the original bulk behavior (T_Neel<T_MI) is strongly affected by applying compressive strain to the films. For small compressive strains, a regime where T_Neel=T_MI is achieved, the paramagnetic insulating phase characteristic of the bulk compound is suppressed and the MIT becomes 1st order. Further increasing the in-plane compression of the SmNiO_3 lattice leads to the stabilization of a single metallic paramagnetic phase.
We have investigated the electronic and magnetic properties of perovskite SrRu1-xIrxO3 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition on atomically-flat (001) SrTiO3 substrates. SrRuO3 has the properties of a ferromagnetic metal with Curie temperature 150 K. Substituting Ir for Ru in SrRuO3, films showed fully-metallic behavior and ferromagnetic ordering, although resistivity increased and the ferromagnetic TC decreased. Films with x = 0.25 underwent the metal-to-insulator transition at 75 K, and spin-glass-like ordering at 45 K with the elimination of ferromagnetic long-range ordering caused by the electron localization at the substitution sites. In ferromagnetic films, resistivity increased near-linearly with T, but in paramagnetic film (x = 0.25) resistivity increased as T3/2. Moreover, observed spin-glass-like (TSG) ordering with the negative magnetoresistance in film with x = 0.25; validates the hypothesis that (Anderson) localization favors glassy ordering at amply disorder limit. These observations provide a promising approach for future applications and of fundamental interest in 4d and 5d mixed perovskites.
Epitaxial strain provides important pathways to control the magnetic and electronic states in transition metal oxides. However, the large strain is usually accompanied by a strong reduction of the oxygen vacancy formation energy, which hinders the direct manipulation of their intrinsic properties. Here using a post-deposition ozone annealing method, we obtained a series of oxygen stoichiometric SrCoO3 thin films with the tensile strain up to 3.0%. We observed a robust ferromagnetic ground state in all strained thin films, while interestingly the tensile strain triggers a distinct metal to insulator transition along with the increase of the tensile strain. The persistent ferromagnetic state across the electrical transition therefore suggests that the magnetic state is directly correlated with the localized electrons, rather than the itinerant ones, which then calls for further investigation of the intrinsic mechanism of this magnetic compound beyond the double-exchange mechanism.
Magnetotransport properties of La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 thin films deposited on (100) LaAlO3 substrate were investigated. The balance between the charge ordered insulating phase and ferromagnetic metallic phase may account for a number of glassy features such as: significant hysteresis, memory effects and long-time resistivity relaxation. It was found that the resistance of La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 thin film decreases significantly upon applying electric current, in a wide temperature range 10 - 220 K. The magnetotransport properties of the strained thin films are discussed in the context of cross-coupling of charge, spin and strain.
The enigma of the emergent ferromagnetic state in tensile-strained LaCoO3 thin films remains to be explored because of the lack of a well agreed explanation. The direct magnetic imaging technique using a low-temperature magnetic force microscope (MFM) is critical to reveal new aspects of the ferromagnetism by investigating the lateral magnetic phase distribution. Here we show the experimental demonstration of the rare halved occupation of the ferromagnetic state in tensile-strained LaCoO3 thin films on SrTiO3 substrates using the MFM. The films have uniformly strained lattice structure and minimal oxygen vacancies (less than 2%) beyond the measurement limit. It is found that percolated ferromagnetic regions with typical sizes between 100 nm and 200 nm occupy about 50% of the entire film, even down to the lowest achievable temperature of 4.5 K and up to the largest magnetic field of 13.4 T. Preformed ferromagnetic droplets were still observed when the temperature is 20 K above the Curie temperature indicating the existence of possible Griffiths phase. Our study demonstrated a sub-micron level phase separation in high quality LaCoO3 thin films, which has substantial implications in revealing the intrinsic nature of the emergent ferromagnetism.
Magneto-transport properties of SrIrO$_3$ thin films epitaxially grown on SrTiO$_3$, using reactive RF sputtering, are investigated. A large anisotropy between the in-plane and the out-of-plane resistivities is found, as well as a signature of the substrate cubic to tetragonal transition. Both observations result from the structural distortion associated to the epitaxial strain. The low-temperature and field dependences of the Hall number are interpreted as due to the contribution of Coulomb interactions to weak localization, evidencing the strong correlations in this material. The introduction of a contribution from magnetic scatters, in the analysis of magnetoconductance in the weakly localized regime, is proposed as an alternative to an anomalously large temperature dependence of the Land{e} coefficient.