Strain-induced phase arrangement in LaVO<sub>3</sub> thin films
ORAL
Abstract
The perovskite oxide LaVO3 is an archetypical Mott insulator which undergoes a antiferromagnetic (AFM) orbital and spin order transition at ~140 K, concomitant with a structural distortion from the high temperature Pbnm structure 1. In this talk, we report on the arrangement of coexisting phases stabilized by epitaxial strain imposed by the substrate using a combination of synchrotron x-ray diffraction2, x-ray diffraction microscopy3 and scanning transmission electron microscopy. Coherently strained LaVO3 thin films were grown by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy (hMBE)4 on NdGaO3 and GdScO3. It is found that different order and phase arrangement occurs at room temperature and low temperatures at dramatically different length scales ranging from about 3 nm to 300 nm. We discuss the nature and origin of these ordered phases, which have not been observed in bulk LaVO3, in light of the structural constraints imposed by the substrate.
1. Bordet, P. et al. J. Solid State Chem. 106, 253–270 (1993).
2. Brahlek, M., et al. Appl. Phys. 1211, (2017).
3. Laanait, N. et al. J. Synchrotron Radiat. 21, 1252–1261 (2014).
4. Zhang, H.-T. et al. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9, 12556–12562 (2017).
1. Bordet, P. et al. J. Solid State Chem. 106, 253–270 (1993).
2. Brahlek, M., et al. Appl. Phys. 1211, (2017).
3. Laanait, N. et al. J. Synchrotron Radiat. 21, 1252–1261 (2014).
4. Zhang, H.-T. et al. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9, 12556–12562 (2017).
*Research supported by NSF-MRSEC center at Penn State NSF DMR-142062 and DOE-BES under DE-SC0012375.
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Presenters
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Jason Lapano
- Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University
- Materials Science, Pennsylvania State University