Abstract
The correlation among the charge, orbital, spin, transport and magnetic properties of strained tetravalent ion-doped La0.85Zr0.15MnO3 (LZMO) thin films epitaxially grown on two substrates, SrTiO3 (STO) and MgO, were extensively studied using the x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), x-ray linear dichroism (XLD), x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and the extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) at the Mn L3,2- and K-edge at various temperatures. The Mn 3d eg preferential orbital occupation of LZMO/STO changed from in-plane x2-y2 to out-of-plane 3z2-r2 as the temperature was reduced from room temperature to below the transition temperatures of 80 K, while LZMO/MgO, the eg orbital occupation changed oppositely from 3z2-r2 to x2-y2. Mn3+/Mn4+ and Mn+2 multiple valence states were involved in the double-exchange mechanism, the stabilization of a preferential orbital occupation of the out-of-plane 3z2-r2 orbital of Mn ions and the shortening of the Mn-Mn bond distance, all of which may play an important role in improving the transport and magnetic properties, owing to the distortion of the MnO6 octahedron by the strain in the LZMO/STO.
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