Anisotropic spin-density distribution and magnetic anisotropy of strained La1−xSr x MnO3 thin films: angle-dependent x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Abstract

Magnetic anisotropies of ferromagnetic thin films are induced by epitaxial strain from the substrate via strain-induced anisotropy in the orbital magnetic moment and that in the spatial distribution of spin-polarized electrons. However, the preferential orbital occupation in ferromagnetic metallic La 1−x Sr x MnO 3 (LSMO) thin films studied by x-ray linear dichroism (XLD) has always been found out-of-plane for both tensile and compressive epitaxial strain and hence irrespective of the magnetic anisotropy. In order to resolve this mystery, we directly probed the preferential orbital occupation of spin-polarized electrons in LSMO thin films under strain by angle-dependent x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). Anisotropy of the spin-density distribution was found to be in-plane for the tensile strain and out-of-plane for the compressive strain, consistent with the observed magnetic anisotropy. The ubiquitous out-of-plane preferential orbital occupation seen by XLD is attributed to the occupation of both spin-up and spin-down out-ofplane orbitals in the surface magnetic dead layer.

Structural and magnetic phase diagram of epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 from first principles

“…as compared to in-plane ([100] or [110] pseudo-cubic). This qualitatively agrees with experimental reports of an out-of-plane easy axis [47,48,49,4]. Under the smaller compressive strain induced by NGO, our calculations show a very small MAE (only about 0.03 meV/f.u.…”

“…Fig 5 shows that the easy axis when compressively strained in-plane is along [100], while it is along [001] for tensile strains. This trend would appear to agree with that expected from simple arguments based on 3z 2 − r 2 vs x 2 − y 2 orbital occupation [52,50,12,48]; interactions between neighbouring Mn 3z 2 − r 2 (x 2 − y 2 ) orbitals, mediated by O2p, results in larger hopping and bandwidth and hence angular momentum and spin-orbit coupling along the out-of-plane (in-plane) direction. As described above, this orbital occupation is predominantly affected by strain, rather than tilting.…”

Insulator-to-half metal transition and enhancement of structural distortions in $$\text {Lu}_2 \text {NiIrO}_6$$ double perovskite oxide via hole-doping

“…Particularly, a half-metallic (HM) state in 1 , 7 , 22 and 2 , 23 , 24 (i.e., one spin channel exhibits a conducting nature while the other is insulator or semiconductor) having Curie temperature ( ) of 400–415 K is found, which displayed novel applications for spintronics perspective 25 , 26 . In most of the experiments, it is analyzed that HM is FM such as 27 and few are HM FiMs or highly spin-polarized like having a of 635 K 8 , 9 , 28 , 29 . The highest of 725 K is observed in with the magnetic moment of 1.92 to 2.04 12 , 15 , 16 .…”

Electronic, magnetic, optical and thermoelectric properties of Ca2Cr1−xNixOsO6 double perovskites

“…TM doped DPs exhibit HM behaviour, [10][11][12][13] in which the material exhibits a conducting state in one of the spin channels while the other spin channel is insulating or semiconducting. HM behaviour has been exhibited by diverse groups of materials such as Heusler alloys, shandites, the Ruddlesden-Popper series, etc., [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] and is a key property for potential applications in spintronics. 22,23 The majority of experimentally determined HMs are ferromagnets (FMs) such as La 1Àx Sr x MnO 3 , and some are ferrimagnets (FiMs) with nite values of magnetic moments.…”

“…22,23 The majority of experimentally determined HMs are ferromagnets (FMs) such as La 1Àx Sr x MnO 3 , and some are ferrimagnets (FiMs) with nite values of magnetic moments. 6,7,17,18 Recently, osmium perovskites have been observed to show novel properties. For instance, NaOsO 3 was found to be magnetically driven by a metal-insulator (MI) transition, 24 while a ferroelectric type structural transition was observed in LiOsO 3 .…”