Strain control of phase transition and magnetocaloric effect in Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 thin films

Abstract

Phase transition and the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 (NSMO) epitaxial thin films were tailored through controlling the lattice-mismatch-induced-strain by depositing on (011)—(La0.18Sr0.82)(Al0.59Ta0.41)O3 and SrTiO3 (STO) single crystalline substrates, respectively. The NSMO film grown on STO, exhibiting uniaxial like tensile strain of 1.3% along the in-plane [100] direction, undergoes a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition at ∼210 K followed by a ferromagnetic to A-type antiferromagnetic transition at ∼179 K upon cooling; meanwhile, the film grown on LSAT, exhibiting anisotropic in-plane tensile strains of 0.36% along [100] and 0.50% along [01¯1] directions, undergoes further transition to CE-type antiferromagnetic transition at ∼145 K. NSMO/LSAT with such transitions facilitates a strong MCE over a much wider temperature range from 90 to 170 K, with the magnetic entropy change comparable to the recently reported La0.25Ca0.75MnO3 bulk. These findings suggest that control of strain in manganite films with first-order phase transition is a feasible way to broaden their MCE temperature range.