Strain-induced ferromagnetism in antiferromagnetic LuMnO3 thin films

TL;DR

This study reveals that applying strain to LuMnO3 thin films induces ferromagnetism coexisting with antiferromagnetism, with the ferromagnetic moment localized at the interface, suggesting potential for multifunctional device applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates strain-induced ferromagnetism in LuMnO3 thin films and shows the coupling between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic orders at the interface.

Findings

Large ferromagnetic moment (~1 μB) appears only in strained films.

Ferromagnetism is localized at the substrate-film interface.

Ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic orders are coupled via an exchange field.

Abstract

Single phase and strained LuMnO3 thin films are discovered to display co-existing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic orders. A large moment ferromagnetism (approx. 1 muB), which is absent in bulk samples, is shown to display a magnetic moment distribution that is peaked at the highly-strained substrate-film interface. We further show that the strain-induced ferromagnetism and the antiferromagnetic order are coupled via an exchange field, therefore demonstrating strained rare-earth managanite thin films as promising candidate systems for new multifunctional devices.