Revealing the magnetic properties in a double-perovskite thin film
Revealing the magnetic properties in a double-perovskite thin film lead image
Double perovskites, with their rock-salt-like lattice structure and unusual magnetic properties, have intrigued researchers due to their potential for spintronic applications.
It’s known that the substrates for the epitaxially grown double-perovskite films play an important role in the magnetic properties of the films. For example, it has been shown that magnetism can change under substrate-induced stretching or compression of the oxygen octahedra. Yet, there is no clear understanding of substrate-induced strain influence on double perovskites.
Xu et al. studied a double perovskite composed of neodymium cobalt manganese oxide (Nd2CoMnO6). They found that the magnetism in the material is heavily influenced by the ionic electronegativities of Co and Mn. Under the same tensile or compressive strain induced by the substrate, the Co-O and Mn-O bond lengths show different stretching and compression change rates without changing the ordering arrangement of the Co-O-Mn chain, possibly due to the different ion electronegativity of Co and Mn.
The researchers also identified two more aspects that competitively affect the magnetism in the film: the variation of the oxygen octahedron structure similar to single-perovskite ABO3films, and the extent of Co/Mn ionization without changing the order of Co-O-Mn chain arrangement. The latter aspect in particular, where the magnetism is dependent on the extent of Co/Mn ionization related to the substrate-induced strain in the double perovskite, is not seen in typical ABO3 perovskite films.
“Our results give a systematic understanding of the substrate-induced-strain influence on the magnetic interaction in NCMO thin films and widen its practical application,” said author Lei Shi.
Source: “Strain induced Co/Mn ionization and magnetic properties in double-perovskite Nd2CoMnO6 thin films,” X.M. Xu, L. Shi, S.Y. Pan, J.Y. Zhao, and S.M. Zhou, Journal of Applied Physics (2020). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5143222 .
