Structural, magnetic, and superconducting properties of pulsed-laser-deposition-grown / superlattices on (001)-oriented substrates
Epitaxial / (LSCO/LCMO) superlattices (SL) on (001)- oriented LaSrAlO4 substrates have been grown with pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Their structural, magnetic and superconducting properties have been determined with in-situ reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), x-ray diffraction, specular neutron reflectometry, scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), electric transport, and magnetization measurements. We find that despite the large mismatch between the in-plane lattice parameters of LSCO (a = 0.3779 nm) and LCMO (a = 0.387 nm) these superlattices can be grown epitaxially and with a high crystalline quality. While the first LSCO layer remains clamped to the LSAO substrate, a sizeable strain relaxation occurs already in the first LCMO layer. The following LSCO and LCMO layers adopt a nearly balanced state in which the tensile and compressive strain effects yield alternating in-plane lattice parameters with an almost constant average value. No major defects are observed in the LSCO layers, while a significant number of vertical antiphase boundaries are found in the LCMO layers. The LSCO layers remain superconducting with a relatively high superconducting onset temperature of Tconset ≈ 36 K. The macroscopic superconducting response is also evident in the magnetization data due to a weak diamagnetic signal below 10 K for H ∥ ab and a sizeable paramagnetic shift for H ∥ c that can be explained in terms of a vortex-pinning-induced flux compression. The LCMO layers maintain a strongly ferromagnetic state with a Curie temperature of TCurie ≈ 190 K and a large low-temperature saturation moment of about 3.5 (1) μB. These results suggest that the LSCO/LCMO superlattices can be used to study the interaction between the antagonistic ferromagnetic and superconducting orders and, in combination with previous studies on YBCO/LCMO superlattices, may allow one to identify the relevant mechanisms.
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- Univ. of Fribourg, Fribourg (Switzerland). Department of Physics and Fribourg Center for Nanomaterials
- Univ. Complutense de Madrid (Spain). Departamento Fisica Aplicada III and Instituto Pluridisciplinar
- Univ. Complutense de Madrid (Spain). Departamento Fisica Aplicada III and Instituto Pluridisciplinar; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division
- Max planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart (Germany); Max Planck Society, Garching (Germany). Neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM-II)
- ETH Zurich, Zurich (Switzerland). Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics
- Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland)
- Publication Date:
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 89; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 1098-0121
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Research Org:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1162071
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript (DOE)
- Publisher's Version of Record
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.89.094511