Reversible in situ modulation of competing phases in manganite/ferroelectrics heterostructures

Manganite/ferroelectrics heterostructures were formed by growing a La 0.8Ca0.2MnO3 film on single crystal of ferroelectric 0.72Pb(Mg1/3Nb23)O3-0. 28PbTiO3 (PMN-PT). In such heterostructures, the lattice strain can be well controlled by the electric field applied to PMN-PT. Thus the properties of the La0.8Ca0.2MnO3 layer become tunable. Significant modulations on both insulator-metal (I-M) phase transition and resistivity (∼15%) were achieved under a field of 8 kV/cm. The compression of the manganite lattice in the (a,b)-plane resulted in a lower resistance and higher I-M transition temperature, demonstrating an enhanced ferromagnetic-metallic phase. Such a modulation of competing phases was ascribed to the distortion of the MnO6 octahedron. Copyright © EPLA, 2011.link_to_subscribed_fulltex