Open AccessElectronic Properties of Fully Strained La1–xSrxMnO3 Thin Films Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (0.15 ≤ x ≤ 0.45)
Author(s) -
Sandeep Kumar Chaluvadi,
Vincent Polewczyk,
А. П. Петров,
Giovanni Vinai,
Luca Braglia,
José Manuel Olivares Díez,
Victor Pierron,
Paolo Perna,
Laurence Méchin,
Piero Torelli,
P. Orgiani
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
acs omega
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.779
H-Index - 40
ISSN - 2470-1343
DOI - 10.1021/acsomega.1c06529
Subject(s) - molecular beam epitaxy , thin film , epitaxy , materials science , crystallography , physics , chemistry , nanotechnology , layer (electronics)
The structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of Sr-hole-doped epitaxial La 1- x Sr x MnO 3 (0.15 ≤ x ≤ 0.45) thin films deposited using the molecular beam epitaxy technique on 4° vicinal STO (001) substrates are probed by the combination of X-ray diffraction and various synchrotron-based spectroscopy techniques. The structural characterizations evidence a significant shift in the LSMO (002) peak to the higher diffraction angles owing to the increase in Sr doping concentrations in thin films. The nature of the LSMO Mn mixed-valence state was estimated from X-ray photoemission spectroscopy together with the relative changes in the Mn L 2,3 edges observed in X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), both strongly affected by doping. CTM4XAS simulations at the XAS Mn L 2,3 edges reveal the combination of epitaxial strain, and different MnO 6 crystal field splitting give rise to a peak at ∼641 eV. The observed changes in the occupancy of the e g and the t 2g orbitals as well as their binding energy positions toward the Fermi level with hole doping are discussed. The room-temperature magnetic properties were probed at the end by circular dichroism.