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Title: Suppressed magnetization at the surfaces and interfaces of ferromagnetic metallic manganites.

Journal Article · · J. Phys.: Cond. Matter

What happens to ferromagnetism at the surfaces and interfaces of manganites? With the competition between charge, spin, and orbital degrees of freedom, it is not surprising that the surface behavior may be profoundly different to that of the bulk. Using a powerful combination of two surface probes, tunneling and polarized x-ray interactions, this paper reviews our work on the nature of the electronic and magnetic states at manganite surfaces and interfaces. The general observation is that ferromagnetism is not the lowest energy state at the surface or interface, which results in a suppression or even loss of ferromagnetic order at the surface. Two cases will be discussed ranging from the surface of the quasi-2D bilayer manganite (La{sub 2-2x}Sr{sub 1+2x}Mn{sub 2}O{sub 7}) to the 3D perovskite (La{sub 2/3}Sr{sub 1/3}MnO{sub 3})/SrTiO{sub 3} interface. For the bilayer manganite, which is ferromagnetic and conducting in the bulk, these probes present clear evidence for an intrinsic insulating non-ferromagnetic surface layer atop adjacent subsurface layers that display the full bulk magnetization. This abrupt intrinsic magnetic interface is attributed to the weak inter-bilayer coupling native to these quasi-two-dimensional materials. This is in marked contrast to the situation for the non-layered manganite system (La{sub 2/3}Sr{sub 1/3}MnO{sub 3}/SrTiO{sub 3}), whose magnetization near the interface is less than half the bulk value at low temperatures and decreases with increasing temperature at a faster rate than that for the bulk.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
917687
Report Number(s):
ANL/XSD/JA-57964; TRN: US200817%%684
Journal Information:
J. Phys.: Cond. Matter, Vol. 19, Issue Jul. 3, 2007
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH