Measurement of the coupling between applied stress and magnetism in a manganite thin film

TL;DR

This study investigates how applied bending stress affects the magnetization profile of a manganite thin film, revealing a measurable coupling between strain and magnetic properties using polarized neutron reflectometry.

Contribution

It provides the first quantitative measurement of the strain-magnetization coupling coefficient in a manganite thin film.

Findings

Compressive stress increases magnetization along the easy axis.

Tensile stress decreases magnetization.

A coupling coefficient relating strain to magnetization was derived.

Abstract

We measured the magnetization depth profile of a (La1-xPrx)1-yCayMnO3 (x = 0.60\pm0.04, y = 0.20\pm0.03) film as a function of applied bending stress using polarized neutron reflectometry. From these measurements we obtained a coupling coefficient relating strain to the depth dependent magnetization. We found application of compressive (tensile) bending stress along the magnetic easy axis increases (decreases) the magnetization of the film.