Functional Perovskite Superlattices

Abstract

Abstract People Publications

I. Vrejoiu, M. Ziese, A. Setzer, B. I. Birajdar, E. Pippel, D. Hesse, M. Alexe

Epitaxial ferromagnetic La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ / ferroelectric PbZr_0.2Ti_0.8O₃ (LSMO/PZT) superlattices were grown on SrTiO₃ (100) substrates by pulsed laser deposition, in an attempt to build artificial multiferroic interfaces (Fig 1). Superlattices with 5 nm LSMO layers retain a good ferro­magnetic behavior below 330 K (Fig 2). This type of superlattices is under investigation for potential magneto-electric coupling between the ferroelectric and ferromagnetic layers.

Fig. 1: Cross section high-resolution TEM image of a coherently grown LSMO/PZT superlattice with an individual layer thickness of 5 nm. The inset in the upper right corner is a Z-contrast STEM image of one of the PZT/LSMO interfaces (TITAN 80-300).

Fig. 2: SQUID magnetization hysteresis loops measured at different temperatures on the LSMO/PZT superlattice from Fig. 1.

For details see Applied Physics Letters 92 (2008) 152506. and Journal of Applied Physics 104 (2008) 063908.