Robust Ferromagnetism in Highly Strained SrCoO3 Thin Films

Wang, Yujia; He, Qing; Ming, Wenmei; Du, Mao-Hua; Lu, Nianpeng; Cafolla, Clodomiro; Fujioka, Jun; Zhang, Qinghua; Zhang, Ding; Shen, Shengchun; Lyu, Yingjie; N’Diaye, Alpha T.; Arenholz, Elke; Gu, Lin; Nan, Cewen; Tokura, Yoshinori; Okamoto, Satoshi; Yu, Pu

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 SrCoO3 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.

Citation

Wang, Y., He, Q., Ming, W., Du, M.-H., Lu, N., Cafolla, C., Fujioka, J., Zhang, Q., Zhang, D., Shen, S., Lyu, Y., N’Diaye, A. T., Arenholz, E., Gu, L., Nan, C., Tokura, Y., Okamoto, S., & Yu, P. (2020). Robust Ferromagnetism in Highly Strained SrCoO3 Thin Films. Physical Review X, 10(2), Article 10.021030. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevx.10.021030

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 27, 2020
• Online Publication Date: May 7, 2020
• Publication Date: Apr 30, 2020
• Deposit Date: May 10, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: May 11, 2020
• Journal: Physical Review X
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 10.021030
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevx.10.021030
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1271171