Enhanced Magnetic Anisotropy and Orbital Symmetry Breaking in Manganite Heterostructures

Abstract

Manipulating magnetic anisotropy in complex oxide heterostructures has attracted much attention. Here, three interface‐engineering approaches are applied to address two general issues with controlling magnetic anisotropy in the La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 heterostructure. One is the paradox arising from the competition between Mn3d–O2p orbital hybridization and MnO6 crystal field. The other is the interfacial region where the nonuniform MnO bond length d and MnOMn bond angle θ disturb the structural modulation. When the interfacial region is suppressed in the interface‐engineered samples, the lateral magnetic anisotropy energy is increased eighteen times. The d‐mediated anisotropic crystal filed that overwhelms the orbital hybridization causes the lateral symmetry breaking of the Mn 3dx2−y2 orbital, resulting in enhanced magnetic anisotropy. This is different from the classic Jahn–Teller effect where the lateral symmetry is always preserved. Moreover, the quantitative analysis on X‐ray linear dichroism data suggests a direct correlation between Mn 3dx2−y2 orbital symmetry breaking and magnetic anisotropy energy. The findings not only advance the understanding of magnetic anisotropy in manganite heterostructures but also can be extended to other complex oxides and perovskite materials with correlated degrees of freedom.

Surface Modification and Enhancement of Ferromagnetism in BiFeO3 Nanofilms Deposited on HOPG

“…When the interfacial region is suppressed in one direction at the interface, the lateral MAE increases. In a recently published paper by Pingfan Chen et al [ 80 ], the enhancement of magnetic anisotropy and the violation of orbital symmetry in manganite heterostructures is described at length. Authors Yan-Fei Wu et al [ 81 ] reported the effect of magnetic proximity in the graphene/BFO heterostructure leading to strong Zeeman splitting in graphene with an exchange field of up to hundreds of tesla.…”

Infrared Transparent and Electromagnetic Shielding Correlated Metals via Lattice-Orbital-Charge Coupling

“…There have been several reports of stronger correlation effects induced by symmetry breaking of oxygen octahedra. 29 The XAS O-K spectra and optical conductivity of Sr 1−x Ba x VO 3 will provide insights into the modification of the electronic band structure of Sr 1−x Ba x VO 3 with Ba substitution.…”

Interfacial engineering manipulation of magnetic anisotropy evolution via orbital reconstruction in low-dimensional manganite superlattices

“…Artificial oxide heterostructures with chemically abrupt interfaces provide a platform for exploring emergent phenomena [22][23][24][25]. The engineered interfacial interactions among the lattice, spin, charge, and orbital degrees of freedom are found to play a direct and crucial role in the properties of 3d transition oxide materials [26][27][28][29][30].…”