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Multi-messenger nanoprobes of hidden magnetism in a strained manganite

Nature Materials volume 19, pages 397–404 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

The ground-state properties of correlated electron systems can be extraordinarily sensitive to external stimuli, offering abundant platforms for functional materials. Using the multi-messenger combination of atomic force microscopy, cryogenic scanning near-field optical microscopy, magnetic force microscopy and ultrafast laser excitation, we demonstrate both ‘writing’ and ‘erasing’ of a metastable ferromagnetic metal phase in strained films of La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 (LCMO) with nanometre-resolved finesse. By tracking both optical conductivity and magnetism at the nanoscale, we reveal how strain-coupling underlies the dynamic growth, spontaneous nanotexture and first-order melting transition of this hidden photoinduced metal. Our first-principles calculations reveal that epitaxially engineered Jahn–Teller distortion can stabilize nearly degenerate antiferromagnetic insulator and ferromagnetic metal phases. We propose a Ginzburg–Landau description to rationalize the co-active interplay of strain, lattice distortions and magnetism nano-resolved here in strained LCMO, thus guiding future functional engineering of epitaxial oxides into the regime of phase-programmable materials.

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Fig. 1: Nano-imaging of photoinduced ferromagnetic metal in epitaxial LCMO.
Fig. 2: Strain-mediated suppression of hidden ferromagnetism.
Fig. 3: Co-active growth of photoinduced ferromagnetic metallic domains.
Fig. 4: Thermal melting of the photoinduced ferromagnetic metal.
Fig. 5: Nanoscale erasure of photoinduced metallicity.

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Data presented in this work will be made available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

Multi-messenger nano-imaging capabilities were developed with support from Programmable Quantum Materials, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), under award no. DE-SC0019443. Research on the phase transition in correlated oxides was supported by the US DOE-BES award no. DE-SC-0012375. F.J. and W.W. acknowledge support from the NSF of China (grant no. 11974326), the National key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2016YFA0401003) and Hefei Science Center CAS.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Jingdi Zhang

    Present address: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

  2. These authors contributed equally: A. S. McLeod, J. Zhang, M. Q. Gu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    A. S. McLeod, A. J. Millis & D. N. Basov

  2. Department of Physics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Jingdi Zhang, G. Zhang, K. W. Post & R. D. Averitt

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    M. Q. Gu & J. M. Rondinelli

  4. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and High Magnetic Field Laboratory of CAS, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    F. Jin & W. B. Wu

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    X. G. Zhao

  6. Institute of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei, China

    W. B. Wu

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  1. A. S. McLeod
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Contributions

A.S.M., J.Z., R.D.A. and D.N.B. conceived the experiments. F.J., X.G.Z. and W.W. provided the samples used in the experiments. G.Z. and K.W.P. provided instrumental support. A.S.M. and J.Z. carried out the nano-imaging and supplementary experiments. M.Q.G., A.J.M. and J.M.R. provided theoretical calculations and support with data analysis. A.S.M. and J.Z. wrote the manuscript with input from all coauthors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to A. S. McLeod or Jingdi Zhang.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–14, Tables 1–3, notes 1–11 and refs. 1–20.

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McLeod, A.S., Zhang, J., Gu, M.Q. et al. Multi-messenger nanoprobes of hidden magnetism in a strained manganite. Nat. Mater. 19, 397–404 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0533-y

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