Cooperative Jahn-Teller transition and resonant x-ray scattering in thin filmLaMnO3

Abstract

Epitaxial thin films of stoichiometric ${\rm LaMnO_3}$ were grown on ${\rm SrTiO_3(110)}$ substrates using the pulsed laser deposition technique. From the high resolution x-ray diffraction measurements, the lattice parameters were determined as a function of temperature and the cooperative Jahn-Teller transition was found to occur at $T_{JT}$=573.0 K. Also measured was resonant x-ray scattering intensity of the orthorhombic (100) peak of ${\rm LaMnO_3}$ near the Mn K edge from low temperatures to above $T_{JT}$. We demonstrate that the integrated intensity of the (100) peak is proportional to the 3/2 power of the orthorhombic strain at all temperatures, and thus provide an experimental evidence that the resonant scattering near the Mn K edge in ${\rm LaMnO_3}$ is largely due to the Jahn-Teller effect.