ArticleMaterials ScienceExchange coupling-induced uniaxial anisotropy in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films

Establishing a deeper understanding of the anisotropy in manganites is useful for tailoring their magnetic properties for device applications. Here we showed that ferromagnetic La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) thin films, epitaxially grown on SrTiO3 (STO) substrates, exhibited unexpected double-shifted magnetization curves originating from the competition between common biaxial and emergent uniaxial anisotropies. This emergent uniaxial anisotropy could be induced by exchange coupling between the ferromagnetic LSMO and an antiferromagnetic LSMO dead layer at the LSMO/STO interface, which could be manipulated by the degree of oxygen deficiency.