Unravelling the effect of SrTiOg antiferrodistortive phase transition on the magnetic properties of LaojSro.sMnOs thin films

• Published in: Journal of physics. D, Applied physics Vol. 47; no. 43; pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Mota, D A, Barcelay, Y Romaguera, Senos, A M R, Fernandes, C M, Tavares, P B, Gomes, I T, Sa, P, Fernandes, L, Almeida, B G, Figueiras, F, Vaghefi, P Mirzadeh, Amaral, V S, Almeida, A, de la Cruz, J Perez, Moreira, J Agostinho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 29.10.2014
• Subjects: Coercive force; Columnar structure; Emergence; Magnetic properties; Magnetization; Phase transformations; Reconstruction; Thin films
• ISSN: 0022-3727; 1361-6463
• DOI: 10.1088/0022-3727/47/431435002

Epitaxial La sub(0.7)Sr sub(0.3)MnO sub(3) (LSMO) thin films, with different thicknesses ranging from 20 to 330nm, were deposited on (100)-oriented strontium titanate (STO) substrates by pulsed laser deposition, with their structure and morphology characterized at room temperature. The magnetic and electric transport properties of the as-processed thin films reveal an abnormal behaviour in the temperature dependent magnetization M(T) below the antiferrodistortive STO phase transition (T sub(STO)) and also an anomaly in the magnetoresistance and electrical resistivity close to the same temperature. Films with thickness [< or =]100 nm show an in-excess magnetization and pronounced changes in the coercivity due to the interface-mediated magnetoelastic coupling with antiferrodistortive domain wall movement occurring below T sub(STO). However, in thicker LSMO thin films, an in-defect magnetization is observed. This reversed behaviour can be understood with the emergence in the upper layer of the film, of a columnar structure needed to relax the elastic energy stored in the film, which leads to randomly oriented magnetic domain reconstructions. For enough high-applied magnetic fields, as thermodynamic equilibrium is reached, a full suppression of the anomalous magnetization occurs, wherein the temperature dependence of the magnetization starts to follow the expected Brillouin behaviour.