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Enhanced ordering temperatures in antiferromagnetic manganite superlattices

Nature Materials volume 8, pages 892–897 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The disorder inherent to doping by cation substitution in the complex oxides can have profound effects on collective-ordered states. Here, we demonstrate that cation-site ordering achieved through digital-synthesis techniques can dramatically enhance the antiferromagnetic ordering temperatures of manganite films. Cation-ordered (LaMnO3)m/(SrMnO3)2m superlattices show Néel temperatures (TN) that are the highest of any La1−xSrxMnO3 compound, ∼70 K greater than compositionally equivalent randomly doped La1/3Sr2/3MnO3. The antiferromagnetic order is A-type, consisting of in-plane double-exchange-mediated ferromagnetic sheets coupled antiferromagnetically along the out-of-plane direction. Through synchrotron X-ray scattering, we have discovered an in-plane structural modulation that reduces the charge itinerancy and hence the ordering temperature within the ferromagnetic sheets, thereby limiting TN. This modulation is mitigated and driven to long wavelengths by cation ordering, enabling the higher TN values of the superlattices. These results provide insight into how cation-site ordering can enhance cooperative behaviour in oxides through subtle structural phenomena.

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Figure 1: Chemical and magnetic structure of a (SrMnO3)2–(LaMnO3)1 superlattice.
Figure 2: Temperature dependence of the antiferromagnetic order as measured by neutron diffraction.
Figure 3: Temperature dependence of the c-axis parameter.
Figure 4: In-plane structural properties obtained from synchrotron X-ray scattering.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to M. Fitzsimmons for discussions. Work at Argonne, including use of the Advanced Photon Source and the Center for Nanoscale Materials, was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under contract No DE-AC02-06CH11357. Work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor was sponsored by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA

    S. J. May, S. G. E. te Velthuis, S. D. Bader & A. Bhattacharya

  2. MUCAT, Ames Laboratory, Ames, Iowa 50010, USA

    P. J. Ryan

  3. Neutron Scattering Science Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA

    J. L. Robertson

  4. Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA

    J.-W. Kim & E. Karapetrova

  5. Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA

    T. S. Santos, S. D. Bader & A. Bhattacharya

  6. Ames Laboratory and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA

    J. L. Zarestky

  7. Department of Physics, University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 60801, USA

    X. Zhai & J. N. Eckstein

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Contributions

J.L.R., S.J.M., J.L.Z., A.B. and S.G.E.teV. carried out the neutron scattering measurements and analysis. The X-ray measurements and analysis were carried out by J.-W.K., S.J.M. and E.K. led by P.J.R. The transport and magnetization measurements were made by S.J.M. and A.B. Thin-film synthesis was carried out at UIUC by A.B., X.Z. and J.N.E., and at Argonne by S.J.M., T.S.S. and A.B. The paper was written by S.J.M., P.J.R., S.D.B. and A.B. All coauthors contributed to interpreting the data and refining the paper. The entire project was guided by A.B.

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Correspondence to A. Bhattacharya.

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May, S., Ryan, P., Robertson, J. et al. Enhanced ordering temperatures in antiferromagnetic manganite superlattices. Nature Mater 8, 892–897 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2557

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