posted on 2024-01-17, 11:06authored byMengqin Wang, Tao Zhu, He Bai, Zhuo Yin, Hao Xu, Wenxiao Shi, Zhe Li, Jie Zheng, Yulin Gan, Yunzhong Chen, Baogen Shen, Yuansha Chen, Qinghua Zhang, Fengxia Hu, Ji-Rong Sun
Magnetic
proximity-induced magnetism in paramagnetic LaNiO3 (LNO)
has spurred intensive investigations in the past decade.
However, no consensus has been reached so far regarding the magnetic
order in LNO layers in relevant heterostructures. This paper reports
a layered ferromagnetic structure for the (111)-oriented LNO/LaMnO3 (LMO) superlattices. It is found that each period of the
superlattice consisted of an insulating LNO-interfacial phase (five
unit cells in thickness, ∼1.1 nm), a metallic LNO-inner phase,
a poorly conductive LMO-interfacial phase (three unit cells in thickness,
∼0.7 nm), and an insulating LMO-inner phase. All four of these
phases are ferromagnetic, showing different magnetizations. The Mn-to-Ni
interlayer charge transfer is responsible for the emergence of a layered
magnetic structure, which may cause magnetic interaction across the
LNO/LMO interface and double exchange within the LMO-interfacial layer.
This work indicates that the proximity effect is an effective means
of manipulating the magnetic state and associated properties of complex
oxides.