Strain effect on the tilt angle in manganite thin films

We report on an angular resolved EXAFS study in the plane of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films epitaxially grown by pulsed laser deposition on slightly mismatched substrates. EXAFS data collected in plane for tensile substrate show a change in the MnO average bond distance and the increase of MnMn length matching with the enlargement of the cell parameter. From these results, we conclude that there is no significant change in the tilt angle MnOMn. Our observations suggest that the distortion within the octahedra is a key parameter in the strain-dependence of the transport and magnetic properties in manganite films.