Impact of epitaxial strain relaxation on ferromagnetism in a freestanding La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 membrane

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that relaxing epitaxial strain in freestanding La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 membranes enhances their ferromagnetic properties, highlighting potential for flexible electronic applications involving strongly-correlated electron systems.

Contribution

It reveals how strain relaxation in freestanding manganite membranes boosts ferromagnetism, a novel approach to tuning magnetic properties in these materials.

Findings

Increased saturation magnetization in freestanding membranes

Higher ferromagnetic transition temperature after strain relaxation

Structural shrinkage correlates with enhanced ferromagnetic interactions

Abstract

Manganite perovskites host emerging physical properties of strongly-correlated electrons with charge, spin, and lattice degrees of freedom. Using epitaxial lift-off technique, we report enhancement of saturation magnetization and ferromagnetic transition temperature of the freestanding La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 membrane compared with the as-grown film on SrTiO3 substrate involving lateral tensile strain. Structural analysis reveals shrinkage of unit-cell volume by tensile strain relaxation in the freestanding membrane, which causes enhancement of the ferromagnetic interaction. The impact of the microscopic lattice deformation on the ferromagnetism of La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 indicates a high potential of this material for flexible electronics application with intriguing functionalities in strongly-correlated electron systems.