Chemical ordering suppresses large-scale electronic phase separation in doped manganites

Authors

Yinyan Zhu, Fudan University, Shanghai
Kai Du, Fudan University, Shanghai
Jiebin Niu, Fudan University, Shanghai
Lingfang Lin, Southeast University, Nanjing
Wengang Wei, Fudan University, Shanghai
Hao Liu, Fudan University, Shanghai
Hanxuan Lin, Fudan University, Shanghai
Kai Zhang, Fudan University, Shanghai
Tieying Yang, Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF)
Yunfang Kou, Fudan University, Shanghai
Jian Shao, Fudan University, Shanghai
Xingyu Gao, Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF)
Xiaoshan Xu, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Xiaoshan Wu, Nanjing University, Nanjing
Shuai Dong, Southeast University, NanjingFollow
Lifeng Yin, Fudan University, ShanghaiFollow
Jian Shen, Fudan University, ShanghaiFollow

Date of this Version

2016

Citation

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | 7:11260

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11260 |www.nature.com/naturecommunications

Comments

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Abstract

For strongly correlated oxides, it has been a long-standing issue regarding the role of the chemical ordering of the dopants on the physical properties. Here, using unit cell by unit cell superlattice growth technique, we determine the role of chemical ordering of the Pr dopant in a colossal magnetoresistant (La_1-yPry)_1-xCa_xMnO₃ (LPCMO) system, which has been well known for its large length-scale electronic phase separation phenomena. Our experimental results show that the chemical ordering of Pr leads to marked reduction of the length scale of electronic phase separations. Moreover, compared with the conventional Pr-disordered LPCMO system, the Pr-ordered LPCMO system has a metal–insulator transition that is ~100 K higher because the ferromagnetic metallic phase is more dominant at all temperatures below the Curie temperature.