Reentrance of low-temperature nonmetallic phase of $\mathrm{L}{\mathrm{a}}_{2/3}\mathrm{S}{\mathrm{r}}_{1/3}\mathrm{Mn}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ (110) thin films

Reentrance of low-temperature nonmetallic phase of $L a_{2 / 3} S r_{1 / 3} Mn O_{3}$ (110) thin films

Lin Li, Zhaoliang Liao, Zhenyu Diao, Rongying Jin, E. W. Plummer, Jiandong Guo, and Jiandi Zhang

Phys. Rev. Materials 1, 034405 – Published 22 August 2017

Abstract

We have studied $L a_{2 / 3} S r_{1 / 3} Mn O_{3}$ thin films grown on (3×1)-reconstructed $SrTi O_{3}$ (110) substrates. Films with thicknesses less than the critical thickness of $θ_{c} ≅ 8$ unit cells are insulating in the measured temperature ( $T$ ) range (2–400 K). However, films with thicknesses slightly over $θ_{c}$ exhibit reentrant nonmetallic behavior at low temperatures in addition to the normally observed metal-insulator transition at higher temperatures. In contrast, the magnetization does not show signs of low- $T$ transitions. Such reentrance of a low- $T$ nonmetallic phase is affected by the film thickness as well as the density of oxygen vacancies. The electrical resistivity analysis reveals that localization effects are responsible for the reentrant nonmetallic behavior, which is enhanced with reduced film thickness.

Received 5 May 2017
Revised 14 July 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.1.034405

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Electrical conductivity Ferromagnetism Magnetotransport

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Lin Li^1,2, Zhaoliang Liao², Zhenyu Diao², Rongying Jin², E. W. Plummer², Jiandong Guo¹, and Jiandi Zhang^2,*

¹Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
²Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70810, USA