Robust ferromagnetism in highly strained SrCoO 3 thin films

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.10.021030

Authors: Yujia Wang (Tsinghua University; Frontier Science Center for Quantum Information) , Qing He (Durham University) , Wenmei Ming (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) , Mao-Hua Du (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) , Nianpeng Lu (Tsinghua University; Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science) , Clodomiro Cafolla (Durham University) , Jun Fujioka (University of Tsukuba) , Qinghua Zhang (Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science; Tsinghua University) , Ding Zhang (Tsinghua University; Frontier Science Center for Quantum Information) , Shengchun Shen (Tsinghua University; Frontier Science Center for Quantum Information) , Yingjie Lyu (Tsinghua University; Frontier Science Center for Quantum Information) , Alpha T. N’diaye (Advanced Light Source) , Elke Arenholz (Advanced Light Source) , Lin Gu (Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science) , Cewen Nan (Tsinghua University) , Yoshinori Tokura (RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS); University of Tokyo) , Satoshi Okamoto (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) , Pu Yu (Tsinghua University; Frontier Science Center for Quantum Information; RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS))
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Physical Review X , VOL 10

State: Published (Approved)
Published: May 2020

Abstract: 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 postdeposition ozone annealing method, we obtain a series of oxygen stoichiometric SrCoO 3 thin films with the tensile strain up to 3.0%. We observe 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.

Journal Keywords: Epitaxial strain; Ferromagnetism; Metal-insulator transition; Ferromagnets; Transition-metal oxides; Epitaxy; First-principles calculations; Magnetization measurements; X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Diamond Keywords: Ferromagnetism

Subject Areas: Physics, Materials


Instruments: I06-Nanoscience (XPEEM)

Other Facilities: Advanced Light Source; SPring-8

Added On: 28/05/2020 09:49

Documents:
PhysRevX.10.021030.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Surfaces Quantum Materials Hard condensed matter - electronic properties Physics Magnetism Materials Science interfaces and thin films

Technical Tags:

Spectroscopy X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS)