Nanoscale magnetic structure of ferromagnet/antiferromagnet manganite multilayers

Abstract

Polarized Neutron Reflectometry and magnetometry measurements have been used to obtain a comprehensive picture of the magnetic structure of a series of La{2/3}Sr{1/3}MnO{3}/Pr{2/3}Ca{1/3}MnO{3} (LSMO/PCMO) superlattices, with varying thickness of the antiferromagnetic (AFM) PCMO layers (0<=t_A<=7.6 nm). While LSMO presents a few magnetically frustrated monolayers at the interfaces with PCMO, in the latter a magnetic contribution due to FM inclusions within the AFM matrix was found to be maximized at t_A~3 nm. This enhancement of the FM moment occurs at the matching between layer thickness and cluster size, where the FM clusters would find the optimal strain conditions to be accommodated within the "non-FM" material. These results have important implications for tuning phase separation via the explicit control of strain.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to PR