Observing a previously hidden structural-phase transition onset through heteroepitaxial cap response

doi:10.1073/pnas.1819641116

Title: Observing a previously hidden structural-phase transition onset through heteroepitaxial cap response

Abstract

Characterization of the onset of a phase transition is often challenging due to the fluctuations of the correlation length scales of the order parameters. This is especially true for second-order structural-phase transition due to minute changes involved in the relevant lattice constants. A classic example is the cubic-to-tetragonal second-order phase transition in SrTiO ₃ (STO), which is so subtle that it is still unresolved. Here, we demonstrate an approach to resolve this issue by epitaxially grown rhombohedral La _0.7 Sr _0.3 MnO ₃ (LSMO) thin films on the cubic STO (100) substrate. The shear strain induced nanotwinning waves in the LSMO film are extremely sensitive to the cubic-to-tetragonal structural-phase transitions of the STO substrate. Upon cooling from room temperature, the development of the nanotwinning waves is spatially inhomogeneous. Untwinned, atomically flat domains, ranging in size from 100 to 300 nm, start to appear randomly in the twinned phase between 265 and 175 K. At ∼139 K, the untwinned, atomically flat domains start to grow rapidly into micrometer scale and finally become dominant at ∼108 K. These results indicate that the low-temperature tetragonal precursor phase of STO has already nucleated at 265 K, significantly higher than the critical temperature of STOmore »« less

Publication Date:: 2019-02-20

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE

OSTI Identifier:: 1495315

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0002136

Resource Type:: Published Article

Journal Name:: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Volume: 116 Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 0027-8424

Publisher:: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Formats


                    Lan, Fanli, Chen, Hongyan, Lin, Hanxuan, Bai, Yu, Yu, Yang, Miao, Tian, Zhu, Yinyan, Ward, T. Z., Gai, Zheng, Wang, Wenbin, Yin, Lifeng, Plummer, E. W., and Shen, Jian. Observing a previously hidden structural-phase transition onset through heteroepitaxial cap response.  United States: N. p., 2019. 
        Web.  doi:10.1073/pnas.1819641116.

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                    Lan, Fanli, Chen, Hongyan, Lin, Hanxuan, Bai, Yu, Yu, Yang, Miao, Tian, Zhu, Yinyan, Ward, T. Z., Gai, Zheng, Wang, Wenbin, Yin, Lifeng, Plummer, E. W., & Shen, Jian. Observing a previously hidden structural-phase transition onset through heteroepitaxial cap response.  United States.  doi:10.1073/pnas.1819641116.

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                    Lan, Fanli, Chen, Hongyan, Lin, Hanxuan, Bai, Yu, Yu, Yang, Miao, Tian, Zhu, Yinyan, Ward, T. Z., Gai, Zheng, Wang, Wenbin, Yin, Lifeng, Plummer, E. W., and Shen, Jian. Wed .  
        "Observing a previously hidden structural-phase transition onset through heteroepitaxial cap response".  United States.  doi:10.1073/pnas.1819641116.

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@article{osti_1495315,

  title        = {Observing a previously hidden structural-phase transition onset through heteroepitaxial cap response},

  author       = {Lan, Fanli and Chen, Hongyan and Lin, Hanxuan and Bai, Yu and Yu, Yang and Miao, Tian and Zhu, Yinyan and Ward, T. Z. and Gai, Zheng and Wang, Wenbin and Yin, Lifeng and Plummer, E. W. and Shen, Jian},

  abstractNote = {Characterization of the onset of a phase transition is often challenging due to the fluctuations of the correlation length scales of the order parameters. This is especially true for second-order structural-phase transition due to minute changes involved in the relevant lattice constants. A classic example is the cubic-to-tetragonal second-order phase transition in SrTiO 3 (STO), which is so subtle that it is still unresolved. Here, we demonstrate an approach to resolve this issue by epitaxially grown rhombohedral La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 (LSMO) thin films on the cubic STO (100) substrate. The shear strain induced nanotwinning waves in the LSMO film are extremely sensitive to the cubic-to-tetragonal structural-phase transitions of the STO substrate. Upon cooling from room temperature, the development of the nanotwinning waves is spatially inhomogeneous. Untwinned, atomically flat domains, ranging in size from 100 to 300 nm, start to appear randomly in the twinned phase between 265 and 175 K. At ∼139 K, the untwinned, atomically flat domains start to grow rapidly into micrometer scale and finally become dominant at ∼108 K. These results indicate that the low-temperature tetragonal precursor phase of STO has already nucleated at 265 K, significantly higher than the critical temperature of STO (∼105 K). Our work paves a pathway to visualize the onset stages of structural-phase transitions that are too subtle to be observed using direct-imaging methods.},

  doi          = {10.1073/pnas.1819641116},

  journal      = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},

  number       = 10,

  volume       = 116,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2019},

  month        = {2}

}

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Title: Observing a previously hidden structural-phase transition onset through heteroepitaxial cap response

Abstract

Citation Formats

Heterostructures of La0.67Sr0.33MnO3/SrTiO3/La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 grown by pulsed laser deposition on (001) SrTiO3 journal, August 2000

X-ray scattering study of the R-point instability in SrTiO 3 journal, July 1986

SrTiO 3 Displacive Transition Revisited via Coherent X-Ray Diffraction journal, March 2007

Origin of high transport spin polarization in La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 : Direct evidence for minority spin states journal, April 2001

Observation of a Near-Surface Structural Phase Transition in SrTiO 3 by Optical Second Harmonic Generation journal, October 2000

Evidence of Orbital Reconstruction at Interfaces in Ultrathin La 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 Films journal, April 2008

Electron diffraction studies of phonon and static disorder in SrTiO 3 journal, April 2000

Structure and Properties of Functional Oxide Thin Films: Insights From Electronic-Structure Calculations journal, July 2011

Depth dependence of the structural phase transition of SrTiO 3 studied with β -NMR and grazing incidence x-ray diffraction journal, June 2011

Structural Phase Transitions journal, November 2006

Tunable Metallicity of the La 5 / 8 Ca 3 / 8 MnO 3 ( 001 ) Surface by an Oxygen Overlayer journal, February 2009

Structural Defects and the Origin of the Second Length Scale in SrTiO 3 journal, March 1998

Influence of defects on the critical behavior at the 105 K structural phase transition of SrTiO 3 : On the origin of the two length scale critical fluctuations journal, July 2002

Modeling of twinning in epitaxial (001)-oriented La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 thin films journal, June 2005

Domain patterns in epitaxial rhombohedral ferroelectric films. I. Geometry and experiments journal, March 1998

Shear-strain-induced low symmetry phase and domain ordering in epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films journal, June 2008

Cubic to Tetragonal Phase Transition of SrTiO3 under Epitaxial Stress: An X-Ray Backscattering Study journal, October 2000

Thickness dependent electronic structure of La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 layer in SrTiO3/La0.6Sr0.4MnO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures studied by hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy journal, February 2009

Phase Diagram of Tetragonal Manganites journal, April 2000

Neutron- and x-ray-scattering study of the two length scales in the critical fluctuations of SrTiO 3 journal, November 1995

Insulator-metal transition and giant magnetoresistance in La 1 − x Sr x MnO 3 journal, May 1995

Are there two length scales at phase transitions? journal, January 1996

Critical Neutron Scattering in SrTi O 3 and KMn F 3 journal, December 1972

Central peak and narrow component in x-ray scattering measurements near the displacive phase transition in SrTiO 3 journal, September 2008

Near-Surface Structural Phase Transition of SrTiO 3 Studied with Zero-Field β -Detected Nuclear Spin Relaxation and Resonance journal, April 2006

Heterostructures of La0.67Sr0.33MnO3/SrTiO3/La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 grown by pulsed laser deposition on (001) SrTiO3
journal, August 2000

X-ray scattering study of the R-point instability in SrTiO ₃
journal, July 1986

${SrTiO}_{3}$ Displacive Transition Revisited via Coherent X-Ray Diffraction
journal, March 2007

Origin of high transport spin polarization in ${La}_{0.7} {Sr}_{0.3} {MnO}_{3} :$ Direct evidence for minority spin states
journal, April 2001

Observation of a Near-Surface Structural Phase Transition in ${SrTiO}_{3}$ by Optical Second Harmonic Generation
journal, October 2000

Evidence of Orbital Reconstruction at Interfaces in Ultrathin ${La}_{0.67} {Sr}_{0.33} {MnO}_{3}$ Films
journal, April 2008

Electron diffraction studies of phonon and static disorder in ${SrTiO}_{3}$
journal, April 2000

Structure and Properties of Functional Oxide Thin Films: Insights From Electronic-Structure Calculations
journal, July 2011

Depth dependence of the structural phase transition of SrTiO $_{3}$ studied with $β$ -NMR and grazing incidence x-ray diffraction
journal, June 2011

Structural Phase Transitions
journal, November 2006

Tunable Metallicity of the ${La}_{5 / 8} {Ca}_{3 / 8} {MnO}_{3} (001)$ Surface by an Oxygen Overlayer
journal, February 2009

Structural Defects and the Origin of the Second Length Scale in ${SrTiO}_{3}$
journal, March 1998

Influence of defects on the critical behavior at the 105 K structural phase transition of ${SrTiO}_{3} :$ On the origin of the two length scale critical fluctuations
journal, July 2002

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journal, June 2005

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journal, March 1998

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journal, June 2008

Cubic to Tetragonal Phase Transition of SrTiO3 under Epitaxial Stress: An X-Ray Backscattering Study
journal, October 2000

Thickness dependent electronic structure of La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 layer in SrTiO3/La0.6Sr0.4MnO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures studied by hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy
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Phase Diagram of Tetragonal Manganites
journal, April 2000

Neutron- and x-ray-scattering study of the two length scales in the critical fluctuations of ${SrTiO}_{3}$
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Insulator-metal transition and giant magnetoresistance in ${La}_{1 - x}$ ${Sr}_{x}$ ${MnO}_{3}$
journal, May 1995

Are there two length scales at phase transitions?
journal, January 1996

Critical Neutron Scattering in SrTi $O_{3}$ and KMn $F_{3}$
journal, December 1972

Central peak and narrow component in x-ray scattering measurements near the displacive phase transition in ${SrTiO}_{3}$
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Near-Surface Structural Phase Transition of ${SrTiO}_{3}$ Studied with Zero-Field $β$ -Detected Nuclear Spin Relaxation and Resonance
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